Riddles of the Sphinx and Other Mathematical Puzzle Tales

Martin Gardner begins Riddles with questions about splitting up polygons into prescribed shapes and he ends this book with an offer of a prize of $100 for the first person to send him a 3 x# magic square consisting of consecutive primes. Only Gardner could fit so many diverse and tantalizing problems into one book. This material was drawn from Gardner’s column in Issac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. His riddles presented here incorporate the responses of his initial readers, along with additions suggested by the editors of this series. In this book, Gardner draws us from questions to answers, always presenting us with new riddles- some as yet unanswered. Solving these riddles is not simply a matter of logic and calculation, though these play a role. Luck and inspiration are factors as well, so beginners and experts alike may profiably exercise their wits on Gardner’s problems, whose subjects range from geometry to word play to questions relating to physics and geology. We guarantee that you will solve some of these riddles, be stumped by others, and be amused by almost all of the stories and settings that Gardner has devised to raise these questions.