The Art of Mathematics: Coffee Time in Memphis

by Béla Bollobás

Overview

Can a Christian escape from a lion? How quickly can a rumor spread? Can you fool an airline into accepting oversize baggage? Recreational mathematics is full of frivolous questions where the mathematician's art can be brought to bear. But play often has a purpose. In mathematics, it can sharpen skills, provide amusement, or simply surprise, and books of problems have been the stock-in-trade of mathematicians for centuries. This collection is designed to be sipped from, rather than consumed in one sitting. The questions range in difficulty: the most challenging offer a glimpse of deep results that engage mathematicians today; even the easiest prompt readers to think about mathematics. All come with solutions, many with hints, and most with illustrations. Whether you are an expert, or a beginner or an amateur mathematician, this book will delight for a lifetime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521693950
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/14/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	386
Product dimensions:	6.34(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Béla Bollobás is a Senior Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge and is the Jabie Hardin Chair of Excellence in Combinatorics at the University of Memphis. He has held visiting positions from Seattle to Singapore, from Brazil to Zurich. This is his tenth book.

Table of Contents

Preface; Part I. The Problems; Part II. The Hints; Part III. The Solutions.

Editorial Reviews

"The Author considers these problems to be the type that two mathematical friends would pose to each other and discuss over a cup of coffee in a lounge. I agree with that premise, they are not too hard and there is a proof that is relatively easy to discover and even easier to understand. These problems satisfy all of the requirements for a good problem..."
Journal of Recreational Mathematics

From the Publisher