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Wheels, Life and Other Mathematical Amusements is a book by Martin Gardner published in 1983. The Basic Library List Committee of the Mathematical Association of America has recommended its inclusion in undergraduate mathematics libraries.

Contents

Wheels, Life and Other Mathematical Amusements is a book of 22 mathematical games columns that were revised and extended after being previously published in Scientific American. It is Gardner's 10th collection of columns, and includes material on Conway's Game of Life, supertasks, intransitive dice, braided polyhedra, combinatorial game theory, the Collatz conjecture, mathematical card tricks, and Diophantine equations such as Fermat's Last Theorem.

Reception

Dave Langford reviewed Wheels, Life and Other Mathematical Amusements for White Dwarf #55, and stated that "Here too are revisions of the three famous pieces on Conway's solitaire game Life, which has absorbed several National Debts' worth of computer time since 1970. Fascinating." The book was positively reviewed in several other mathematics and science journals.

References

1. "Wheels, Life, and Other Mathematical Amusements". Mathematical Association of America. Retrieved 2020-07-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
2. ^ Langford, Dave (July 1984). "Critical Mass". White Dwarf (55). Games Workshop: 20.
3. Heuer, G. A. "Review of Wheels, Life and Other Mathematical Amusements". zbMATH. Zbl 0537.00002.
4. Additional reviews:
   • Roberts, Sharon M. (May 1984). The Mathematics Teacher. 77 (5): 397. JSTOR 27964108.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Golomb, Solomon W. (July–August 1984). American Scientist. 72 (4): 408. JSTOR 27852818.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Carter, D. C. (March 1985). The Mathematical Gazette. 69 (447): 75. doi:10.2307/3616487. JSTOR 3616487.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Klarner, David A. (April 1986). The American Mathematical Monthly. 93 (4): 321–323. doi:10.2307/2323703. JSTOR 2323703.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)

• Books about mathematics
• Works by Martin Gardner