Martin Gardner – free pdf...

I only realized recently that an edition of College Mathematics Journal dedicated to Martin Gardener is freely available for all rather than just subscribers. You can download it here: College Mathematics – Martin Gardner Special Issue. The issue is, as one might expect, a mixed bag. Of interest is a reprint of Gardener’s original article on Hexaflexagons (these were a childhood favourite for me); in the provocatively titled Martin Gardner’s Mistake Tanya Khovanova discusses the errors in solutions to Tuesday’s child problem (a problem which surfaced at Gathering for Gardner before ricocheting around the internet); Arthur Benjamin has a very simple (I mean that in a good way) article on Squaring, Cubing, and Cube Rooting. There’s also an article by Ian Stewart, who (I suppose it goes without saying) has a new book...

Mathemagic of Arthur Benjamin...

It’s been a while since we had root around the collection of TED talks. Here’s one by Arthur Benjamin who seems to be more well known in the United States than he is here in the UK. If you want to emulate his tricks, then read his book with Michael Shermer, Think Like A Maths Genius. (Which, incidentally, had me in two minds about calling my own book How To Think Like a Mathematician but plans for my book were too far advanced for me to...