Putting Two and Two Together

Burkard Polster, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Marty Ross, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Putting two and two together: Cordial math Uncovering base motives Sneaky square dance A very strange set of blocks Parabolic production line The magic of the imaginary There's no $e$ in Euler What's the best way to lace your shoes? Ringing the changes The shape of things to come: Triangle surfer dude We have it pegged Shadowlands Picture perfect Tractrix and truck tricks Cycling in circles Which way did Natalie go? $\pi=3$ Just the right level of wine Spotting an unfortunate spot Summing up the mystery of flight MH370 Choc-full of mathematics Too hot, too cold, just right A bloody good sport: Seeds of doubt Tennis math, anyone? The ball was in AND out? You cannot be serious! Giving it your best shot Bombs, and a bombed Riewoldt Diophantine footy fan Walk, don't run! Tour de math How round is your soccer ball? And the winner is... The house that math built: Visionary Voronoi Melbourne's catenary chaos Eureka! Archimedes' crocodile Melbourne Grammar mystery map A rectangle, some spheres and lots of triangles A chance encounter: So you think you can beat the bookies? A Penney for your thoughts The Playmobil mystery The devil is in the dice The Freddo Frog path to perfection Will Rogers, clever Kiwis and medical magic The hidden karma of snakes and ladders Space and time, final frontiers: Poet of the universe Escape to our Moon planet Tickling Orion with a triangle The eternal triangles On primes and Pluto The math of planet Mars Letter from Germany: The eternal grind Calendar kinks Strange moves of a mathematical feast Lucky Friday the 13th On the shoulders of lesser giants: Hermann the hermit The equals of Robert Recorde Pythagoras's theorem ain't Pythagoras's Six of one, Babylonian the other It's Chris Mass time Clearing a logjam Squares, triangles and other labor-saving devices The doodle, the witch and Maria Christian Goldbach's magic sum Solutions to the puzzles

Polster and Ross are masters of the genre this book represents: a cornucopia of offerings, from across the mathematical spectrum. Their articles are entertaining, captivating, and informative, and will appeal to everyone from interested amateurs to old pros. On top of all that, the prose is clear, concise and a lot of fun-happily with a charmingly Aussie flavo(u)r. Crack the spine and enjoy!"" -Michael Berg, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles ""The American Mathematical Society must be congratulated on publishing a singularly amusing synthesis of cultural anthropology coupled with mathematical entertainment."" -Tushar Das, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse ""Polster and Ross are as good as the original master, Martin Gardner! They are also as good as that other great popularizer of mathematics, Ian Stewart, who took up Gardner's mantle, and as good as Douglas Hofstedter, who also followed in Gardner's footsteps as popularizers of mathematics within regular columns in Scientific American', and elsewhere. I recommend this new book very highly! Like Poster and Ross's first collection of columns, it is one that you can happily read from cover to cover, or dip into at any random point, and find treasures. You will then often return, savouring, and often laughing, while also learning, and responding to thoughtful challenges!"" -John Gough, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia