The Lighter Side of Mathematics: Proceedings of the Eugene Strens Memorial Conference on Recreational Mathematics and its History (MAA Spectrum Series)

The Lighter Side of Mathematics: Proceedings of the Eugene Strens Memorial Conference on Recreational Mathematics and its History (Spectrum) Recreational mathematics is thriving at the University of Calgary. Some would say that it is a hotbed for recreational mathematics, for it is the home of the Strens Collection of recreational mathematics materials. The Sterns Collection is the most complete library of recreational mathematics in the world. In August of 1986, a special conference on recreational mathematics was held at the University of Calgary to celebrate the founding of the Sterns Collection. Leading practitioners of recreational mathematics from around the world gathered in Calgary to share with each other the joy and spirit of play that is to be found in recreational mathematics. Martin Gardner says of recreational mathematics: "I don't know of any better way to hook the interests of students. I think teachers are beginning to discover that it does have pedagogical value." The papers in this volume, the proceedings of that conference, represent a veritable treasure trove of recreational mathematics by a star-studded cast: leon Bankoff, Elwyn Berlekamp, H.S.M. Coxeter, Ken Falconer, Branko Grünbaum, Richard Guy, Doris Schattschneider, David Singmaster, Athelstan Spilhaus, Stan Wagon and many others. You will not find another collection of wonderful articles on recreational mathematics by a more distinguished group of authors. If you are interested in tessellations, Escher, tiling, Rubik's cube, pentominoes, games, puzzles, the arbelos, Henry Dudeney, ro change ringing, then this book is a must for you. If you believe that recreational mathematics must be mathematics that is fun, then look no further, for The Lighter Side of Mathematics is full of fun. -- from back cover

In August of 1986 a special conference on recreational mathematics was held at the University of Calgary to celebrate the founding of the Strens Collection. Leading practitioners of recreational mathematics from around the world gathered in Calgary to share with each other the joy and spirit of play that is to be found in recreational mathematics. It would be difficult to find a better collection of wonderful articles on recreational mathematics by a more distinguished group of authors. If you are interested in tessellations, Escher, tilings, Rubik's cube, pentominoes, games, puzzles, the arbelos, Henry Dudeney, or change ringing, then this book is for you.

The material in this article is not new, except perhaps for the final formulae in Section 3, but we have tried to present proofs of some known results in an intuitive and recreational manner.