Barrycades and Septoku: Papers in Honor of Martin Gardner and Tom Rodgers (Spectrum)

The Gathering 4 Gardner is a biannual conference founded and for many years organized by Tom Rodgers to celebrate the spirit of Martin Gardner. While primarily concerned with recreational mathematics, most of Gardner's intellectual interests are featured, including magic, literature, philosophy, puzzles, art, and rationality. Gardner's writing inspired several generations of mathematicians by introducing us to the joy of discovery and exploration, and the Gathering's aim is to continue that tradition of inspiration. This volume, a tribute to Rodgers and Gardner, consists of papers originally presented at the Gathering 4 Gardner meetings. Recreational mathematics is strongly prominent with contributions from Neil Sloane, Richard Guy, Solomon Golomb, Barry Cipra, Erik Demaine, and many others. There are games and puzzles, including new Nim-like games, chess puzzles, coin weighings, coin flippings, and contributions that combine art and puzzles or magic and puzzles. Two historical articles present the stories of combinatorial game theory and the search for God's number for Rubik's Cube. Anyone who finds pleasure in clever and intriguing intellectual puzzles will find much to enjoy in Barrycades and Septoku. The Gathering 4 Gardner is a biannual conference founded--and for many years organized--by Tom Rodgers to celebrate the spirit of Martin Gardner. While primarily concerned with recreational mathematics, most of Gardner's intellectual interests are featured, including magic, literature, philosophy, puzzles, art, and rationality. Gardner's writing inspired several generations of mathematicians by introducing us to the joy of discovery and exploration, and the Gathering's aim is to continue that tradition of inspiration. This volume, a tribute to Rodgers and Gardner, consists of papers originally presented at the Gathering 4 Gardner meetings. Recreational mathematics is strongly prominent with contributions from Neil Sloane, Richard Guy, Solomon Golomb, Barry Cipra, Erik Demaine, and many others. There are games and puzzles, including new Nim-like games, chess puzzles, coin weighings, coin flippings, and contributions that combine art and puzzles or magic and puzzles. Two historical articles present the stories of combinatorial game theory and the search for God's number for Rubik's Cube. Anyone who finds pleasure in clever and intriguing intellectual puzzles will find much to enjoy in Barrycades and Septoku. -- Provided by publisher Cover Title page Copyright Contents Preface Remembrances Part 1 Sequences, Tiling, and Packing Chapter 1. Eight Hateful Sequences Chapter 2. Building Barrycades and Constructing Corrals Chapter 3. Limited Placements of Polyominoes on Rectangles Chapter 4. Polyominoes on a Multicolored Infinite Grid Part 2 Fun and Games Chapter 5. A Chess Tribute to John Horton Conway Chapter 6. Some New Combinatorial Games Chapter 7. Factor Subtractor Chapter 8. The Mathematics of Septoku Part 3 History Chapter 9. Thirty Years of Computer Cubing: The Search for God’s Number Chapter 10. Nim-like Games: An Ancestry Part 4 Puzzles Chapter 11. Triangles of Absolute Differences Chapter 12. Generalization of a Puzzle Involving Set Partitions Chapter 13. A Generalization of Retrolife Chapter 14. Coins of Three Different Weights Chapter 15. Rubber Bandzzles: * Three Mathematical Puzzle-Art Challenges Part 5 Art, Sculpture, and Design Chapter 16. Comet! Chapter 17. Developing Topsy Turvy and Number Planet Part 6 Magic and Miscellany Chapter 18. Coin-Flipping Magic Chapter 19. Three Puzzle Fonts Back Cover