Without Words: Mathematical Puzzles to Confound and Delight

By James Tanton

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 solutionThe 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 more difficult. The sister volume More Without Words: Mathematical Puzzles to Confound and Delight is also available containing 36 more puzzles with more easy and fewer testing ones.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tarquin Group
• Release date: Jul 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781858118116

Book preview

A FEW BRIEF INFORMAL WORDS (!!)

WITHOUT WORDS is a collection of 36 immediately accessible but deeply mathematical puzzles, all designed to offer true joy in thinking mathematically in creative, innovative and surprising ways. Not a single word is written. These puzzles are universal: they transcend the barriers of language and culture, literally, and are thereby accessible to all people on this globe. Moreover, the puzzles themselves speak the universal truth of mathematics.

Many of these puzzles are hard and they are not intended to be solved in one sitting. (And sometimes the bulk of the challenge is figuring out what is being asked!) The idea is to sit with a puzzle or two over a number of days and wait for a moment of inspiration or insight to arrive. That is the true mathematical