A New Round-up of Tantalizers and
Puzzles from Scientific American
With 115 Pictures and Diagrams
How do you transform the pyramid of pennies on the
left into the one on the right in the fewest number of moves?
Most people move four pennies, but on page 23 Martin Gardner
will not only show you how to do it in three but will also derive
the mathematical formula that allows you to determine the fewest
number of moves required to invert penny triangles of all sizes.
Not one to stop at the answer to a problem, Gardner always provides
the whys and the wherefores behind any solution in his own elegant,
entertaining fashion.
The treats in this book range from penny puzzles and card shuffles
to a mathematical journey into the art of M.C.Escher and an attempt
to visualize a four-dimensional object.
"Would that mathematics had been this much fun at school." - Los Angeles Times
