James Tanton

This book is a collection of 34 curiosities, each a quirky and delightful gem of mathematics and each a shining example of the joy and surprise that mathematics can bring. Intended for the general math enthusiast, each essay begins with an intriguing puzzle, which either springboards into or unravels to become a wondrous piece of thinking. The essays are self-contained and rely only on tools from high-school mathematics (with only a few pieces that ever-so-briefly brush up against high-school calculus).The gist of each essay is easy to pick up with a cursory glance--the reader should feel free to simply skim through some essays and dive deep into others. This book is an invitation to play with mathematics and to explore its wonders. Much joy awaits!In the interest of fostering a greater awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and everyday life, MSRI and the AMS are publishing books in the Mathematical Circles Library series as a service to young people, their parents and teachers, and the mathematics profession.

This guide covers the story of trigonometry. It is a swift overview, but it is complete in the context of the content discussed in beginning and advanced high-school courses. The purpose of these notes is to supplement and put into perspective the material of any course on the subject you may have taken or are currently taking. (These notes will be tough going for those encountering trigonometry for the very first time!)

A really challenging book that will fascinate anyone interested in puzzles and recreational mathematicians in particular. This volume contains 36 puz-zles ranging from quite easy to quite difficult.

All real life mathematics is problem solving. And all those fascinated by puzzles are problem solvers at heart. But thinking mathematically is a skill we have to learn and one which it is easy to forget. Recreational mathematicians and students can practise problem solving in different ways. In this book solving puzzles is practised in a different way from most books they will have seen before: # Readers get no clues to what the puzzle is about# They may take hours or even days to work out what is being asked of them# Even after that, some problems may have no solution The result of this challenge is a really challenging book that will fascinate anyone interested in puzzles and recreational mathematicians in particular. This volume contains 36 puzzles ranging from quite easy to quite difficult. The sister volume More Without Words: Mathematical Puzzles to Confound and Delight is also available - containing 36 more puzzles with fewer easy and more testing ones.

The author of this book believes that there is too much rote learning and not enough creative exploration in mathematical education. To remedy this he has produced a book that promotes intellectual play and adaptability of thought by engaging the reader in mathematical activities. Twenty-six chapters examine a wide variety of mathematical teasers and problems and the mathematics behind them is explained and proved via natural and accessible means. This is an excellent recreational maths book that also serves as a source of inspiration for teachers of mathematics. Pick and read essays in no particular order and enjoy the mathematical stories that unfold. Be inspired for your courses, your math clubs and your math circles, and enjoy for yourself the bounty of additional research questions and intriguing puzzles that lie within.

Who said "pi" applies only to circles? What is the value of pi for a square? For a triangle? For other shapes? In this little text we'll learn that playing with values of pi for shapes other than circles has surprising and beautiful good uses. All jolly fun