The Amazing Mathematical Amusement Arcade

Brian Bolt (Author)

9780521269803, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 September 1984

138 pages
24.7 x 19 x 1.2 cm, 0.3 kg

This collection of puzzles, games and activities is designed to stimulate and challenge people of all ages who enjoy puzzles with a mathematical flavour. Many of the puzzles have a long history, while others are original. The subjects vary from matchsticks to magic squares, train shunting to river crossing, and chess to calculators. The second part of the book contains a commentary giving hints and solutions.

Introduction
1. Matchstick triangles
2. A tricky river crossing
3. The baffled engine driver
4. Make your own dice
5. Map folding
6. The ingenious milkman
7. Pawns on a chessboard
8. Avoid three (a game for two players)
9. Two halves make a whole
10. Cubism
11. Matchstick squares
12. Curves of pursuit (a geometric construction)
13. The misguided missiles (an extension of 12)
14. Pattern
15. The army's predicament
16. The farmer's sheep-pens
17. The knight's dance
18. The railway sidings
19. The multi-coloured cube
20. The jealous husbands
21. The extension lead
22. Hex (a game for two players)
23. The square, cross and circle
24. The Möbius band (a practical activity)
25. The economical gardener
26. How many triangles can you see?
27. The unfriendly power-boats
28. The knight-guards
29. Reserving the trains
30. Quadruplets
31. Complete the square
32. Roll a penny
33. The growing network (a game for two players)
34. Traversibility
35. Impossible rotations!
36. The hunter
37. Four points in a plane
38. The letter dice
39. The queen's defence
40. Seeing is believing
41. Inspecting the roads
42. Dominoes on a chessboard
43. Zigzag (a game for two players)
44. Knight's tours
45. Sawing up a cube
46. The improbable hole
47. Identical twins
48. The four-colour theorem
49. Mystifying matchsticks
50. Equilateral triangle to square
51. Squaring the urn
52. The baffled housewife
53. Invert the triangle
54. Avoid that snooker
55. Squares (a game for two players)
56. The hungry bookworm
57. Place the motorway junction
58. Space filling
59. Curves from intersecting circles (attractive geometrical constructions)
60. A lover's ultimatum!
61. Only four lines
62. How fast can you cycle?
63. The bob-sleigh run
64. Know your vowels
65. Games on a pegboard for one to play
66. Two of a kind
67. Colouring a cube
68. Problems of single line working
69. Two at a time
70. Heads and tails
71. Square a Greek cross
72. The fuel delivery
73. Fair shares
74. Coin magic
75. The persistent frog
76. Tidy that bookshelf!
77. Cutting up a circle
78. Square relations
79. The numerate gardener
80. Magic triangles
81. Number patterns
82. Surprising subtractions
83. How large a number can you get?
84. Four 4s
85. What was the sum?
86. Calculator words
87. A calculator crossword
88. A mining bonanza
89. Hundreds, tens and units
90. Magic circles
91. Prelude to a marathon
92. Find the digits
93. Dr Numerati's telephone number
94. Make a century
95. Number wheels
96. Some calculator challenges
97. Division patterns
98. Some named numbers
99. Magic stars
100. Safety first
101. The gambler's secret strategy
102. The transportation problem
103. Further number patterns
104. Pythagorean triads
105. Intriguing multiplications
106. A magic diamond
107. Palindromic dates
108. 'Mind reading' number cards (a number trick to make and use)
109. 3 x 3 magic squares
110. 4 x 4 and higher order magic squares
111. A magic cube
112. A question of balance
113. Further calculator challenges
114. A weighing problem
115. Similar rectangles
116. Designing a new dartboard
117. The only magic hexagon
118. Nim (a game for two players)
119. Triangulating a square
120. Who is 'it'?
121. Find the cards on the table
122. Dividing the inheritance
123. The end of the world!
124. The sponsored marathon
125. The effect of inflation
126. Octogenarian occupations
127. Tails up!
128. Dovetailed
129. More matchstick mindbenders
130. Bridging the river.

Subject Areas: Educational: Mathematics & numeracy [YQM]