The writer is Gardner of the United States.
In the second half of the 2th century, isaac asimov, carl sagan and martin gardner were the three masters who dominated the popular science circles in the United States for decades, and they could be said to be beautiful for a while. Today, the first two people have passed away, and only Mr. Gardner is still alive and well, and continues to play his irreplaceable role in the field of mathematical communication.
Asimov has a very pertinent comment on Gardner: "martin gardner is an amateur super magician, which is beyond doubt and unanimous. However, compared with one of his housekeeping skills, the magical tricks are dwarfed after all, and may be shunned. It turns out that any mathematical subject in his hand can be written as an elegant and popular article, which is so wonderful that I can't put it down. " Dr. Matrix's Magic Number is such a wonderful book with a wide range of coverage, meaningful writing, humorous and interesting, extremely readable, and very deep humanistic roots, so that many readers will not let it go once they see it until they finish reading it in one breath.
on October 21st, 1914, Martin Gardner was born in Oklahoma, USA. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1936, majoring in philosophy. After graduation, I first worked as a reporter for People's Friends, and later worked in the Public Relations Department of the University of Chicago. After the outbreak of World War II, he served as an army correspondent in the US Navy. He has been to India, Fiji, Southeast Asia, Turkey and many countries and regions in the Middle and Near East, and has a wide range of knowledge. After the war, he began his career as a freelance writer Martin gardner is brilliant, full of ideas, well-read, well-memorized, both in arts and sciences. According to incomplete statistics, he has written more than 5 books so far, and his representative works include The Legend of Cryptography, The Relative Theory that Everyone Can Understand, The Universe with Different Appearances, Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience, Dr. Incredible Matrix, Mathematical Carnival, etc. A brainwave, From Surprise to Thinking-Mathematical Paradox, etc.
martin gardner has won many awards. He has been awarded the Excellent Scientific Author Award by american physical society and the American Iron and Steel Foundation (popular science writers are generally called "scientific authors" in the United States), and his portrait has been published in Life magazine and Xinli Weekly. Although he has never been a professor, many first-rate mathematicians all over the world are awed by his name. In a word, he is a famous figure.
The hero of spreading mathematics science
As Douglas Hofstadter, martin gardner's successor and physicist, commented, "Mr. Gardner is irreplaceable" and "he is a great hero of mathematics". He recruited soldiers for mathematics, introduced countless teenagers into the solemn hall of mathematics, and attracted them to take it as a lifelong career with the charm and inner beauty of mathematics itself, looking for "right" in all fields of pure mathematics and applied mathematics. He deserves to be the best propagandist, salesman, guide and "priest" in this subject so far.
Gardner's main activity is Scientific American, a senior popular science magazine, and a long-term columnist.
People who write articles in Scientific American magazine are generally experts in various fields of science and technology. As we all know, few people have published more than two articles in this magazine, with the rare exception of Gardner. From the first issue in 1957 to the end of 198, he wrote articles almost every month for 24 years, with more than 2 articles before and after. The column of "Mathematical Games" arranged by him has finally become a "featured product" of the magazine, and of course it is also a genuine "fist product".
martin gardner studied in thousands of books and traveled in Wan Li Road, and his knowledge is very profound. The published articles on popular mathematics cover almost every branch of mathematics, from the simplest arithmetic and algebra to the unfathomable topology, with a wide coverage and numerous "hot spots", which is eye-catching. Every reader can "get what he needs" and find reading materials that are suitable for his own educational level, extremely fit and can be used to his liking.
martin gardner is 94 years old now, but his pen is still healthy. In the summer of the year before last, Scientific American magazine made an exception and published his monograph "Fifty Years of Interesting Mathematics" with 8 pages and no less than 2, words.
Some of martin gardner's most wonderful chapters are about subjects above calculus in mathematics. Its main contents include number theory, graph theory, probability theory, group theory, matrix, combinatorial analysis, affine geometry, projective geometry, differential science, algorithm theory, topology and so on. These high-level topics have always been regarded as "spring snow", which is high and low, and the general popular science writers always feel very headache and dare not touch it. Martin gardner, however, has unearthed a lot of treasures from it, which makes him superior to his peers and unique. In this respect, even the famous Soviet mathematical science writer Berliman can't compare with him. As we all know, group theory is an important theme in modern mathematics, but it is mysterious in general textbooks. Often, the teacher talks too much in class and the students below still don't understand it. Martin gardner, however, can explain many concepts of "group theory" in a very popular way with examples such as military exercises (attention, left turn, right turn, backward turn ...), wearing socks, and braiding by little girls, without compromising the rigor of the definition. This is really a great success! Therefore, his popular science works are very illustrative and effective for the teaching and dissemination of advanced mathematics. This is also the real value of his works.
martin gardner attaches great importance to the quality of popular science articles, pays great attention to and often reports the "three innovations" in mathematics: new ideas, new discoveries and new progress, and even dares to report on topics involving military secrets.
Mr. Gardner is a versatile figure. He is full of energy, and his interests and achievements involve many aspects, far more than just mathematics. Therefore, to commemorate Gardner's 65th birthday, experts decided to publish Mathematical Gardner, < P > and eagerly hoped that other books, such as Magic Gardner, Literary Gardner, Philosophical Gardner and Scientific Gardner, could be published one after another.
Gardner is a master of interesting questions. Let's take a look at his question:
Five sailors came to a desert island with a monkey. When they saw a lot of coconuts on the island, they divided them into five piles on average. When the night was still, a sailor sneaked up and took a pile of coconuts, and divided the remaining coconuts into five piles on average. As a result, an extra coconut was thrown to the monkey to eat. After a while, another sailor sneaked up and took a pile of coconuts, and then divided the remaining coconuts into five piles on average. As a result, one more coconut was thrown to the monkey to eat. On such an eventful night, five sailors secretly hid a pile and redistributed coconuts, and each time an extra coconut was given to the monkey to take advantage. Early the next morning, there were still an average of 5 coconuts piled up on the island. Ask: How many coconuts should there be at least? -This is the title of "Sailors share coconuts" put forward by martin gardner. There are many solutions, which can be described as the Eight Immortals crossing the sea and showing their magical powers.
Gardner's language is humorous, his writing is vivid, and he understands readers' psychology. His articles can meet the needs of all social strata, especially young readers. He often publishes some world-famous interesting math questions, which are completely different from the traditional Olympic math competition questions. They are extremely interesting, elegant and popular, and you can "catch" you at a glance, and you don't need a lot of preparatory knowledge, so you can't help but try. The problem can reach such a level, which can be described as "complete". There are many ways to solve this kind of problem. For example, the "small fish eat big fish" problem involving operational research, and the "four bugs" problem involving geometry and motion trajectory. Once these topics are disclosed, they will often cause a chain reaction. Letters from readers from all over the world are like snowflakes, which makes the print run of Scientific American increase sharply, and the editorial staff are pleasantly surprised. Some people who have never met before have become close friends because they have solved the same problem, thus building a golden bridge between mathematicians and amateurs.
martin gardner was born as a philosopher, so some of his popular science articles seldom use flowery rhetoric, but they contain profound philosophy. He convincingly proved that mathematicians can be both poets and painters.
Introduction to the Works
Gardner's Interesting Mathematics Series, including Sam Lloyd's Interesting Mathematical Problems, Wonder of Mathematics, Fascinating Interesting Mathematical Problems, Modern Euclidean Geometry, Infinite Journey-About Infinite Cultural History and Testing Your Logical Reasoning Ability, Gardner said in the preface of the book: "For this book, These interesting questions (many of which were published in the "OntheLightSide" column in Science World magazine, which I presided over) have been classified into chapters, and each chapter is aimed at a field in mathematics. A brief review at the beginning of each chapter explains some properties and importance of mathematics categories that must be used to solve the interesting problems in this chapter. In the answer, as long as the space allows, I explained in detail how each problem was solved, and pointed out some attractive ways, which started from the topic and wound their way to the more leafy areas in the math jungle.
Perhaps, in the process of enjoying these interesting questions, you will find that mathematics is more lovely than you think. Perhaps, this will make you willing to study this subject seriously, or reduce your hesitation when starting to study a science that ultimately requires a little advanced mathematics knowledge.
Indeed, no one can doubt the great practical value of mathematics now. Without mathematical tools, there can be no discovery and invention of modern science. However, many people do not understand that mathematicians actually get pleasure from mathematics. In my words, after careful consideration, I settled an interesting topic with the right medicine, and its pleasant degree was like knocking down ten pins with a bowling ball after repeated aiming. "
In The Magic Number of Dr. Matrix, martin gardner set up a magic phalanx of numbers for us by tracking Dr. Owen Joshua of Matrix. American presidential election, Oscar nomination and prediction of Hollywood red star can all predict the inevitability of their results by the basic figures related to them? Here, Mr. Gardner uses the method of narration combined with comments to "reel the silk from the cocoon" for us, and presents the wonderful combination of numbers in the digital kingdom to the readers one by one ...
The focus of this book is to oppose and criticize digital superstition. Digital superstitions have appeared in different forms all over the world, such as Japanese "number occultism" and China's "magic number".
Although the United States is a highly modern country, the above-mentioned trust is very popular in society. Presidential election, Oscar nomination, prediction of Hollywood red stars, and even giving a special birthday gift will also seek the advice of wizards. Astrology, physiognomy, telepathy, palmprint fortune-telling, biblical divination, yoga, looking at crystal balls ... have appeared one after another, which is really spectacular and wonders. The long serial of Dr. Matrix written by martin gardner has been published continuously in Scientific American, a world-famous advanced popular science magazine, for 2 years, which fully shows the sharp vision of the magazine editor: in today's American society, breaking modern superstition is still a long-term and unremitting cause. On the other hand, serial articles always have a large number of readers, which fully proves that the articles are highly targeted and can cut to the chase, thus being widely welcomed by people from all walks of life.
martin gardner is a world-famous popular science writer. He spared no effort to publicize mathematical science all his life, from topology and group theory to arithmetic and algebra, and absorbed countless people into the temple of mathematical science. His achievements are indelible.
This book is another masterpiece of Gardner. He tried his best to write this book, and his writing style is also different from many of his other works. There is only one principle: stand on the opposite side of superstition and always spare no effort to attack it. Expose, criticize and break all kinds of tricks and tricks, and show no mercy to pseudoscience. However, Mr Gardner used a very unique brushwork, that is, playing hard to get. A way to suppress and promote first. Deliberately blow up the hero Dr. Matrix in the book, and then open his cards, expose his scam, and expose his tricks in broad daylight. This brilliant creative skill and imaginative plot are much more powerful than the feeble "criticism" and more in line with the national conditions of the United States. In this regard, it is very similar to the condemnation novels of the late Qing Dynasty obtained by Mr. Lu Xun in the History of China Novels, for example, The Appearance of Officialdom and The Strange Situation Seen in Twenty Years, etc.
Fascinating Mathematics Interesting Topics/Gardner's Interesting Mathematics Series, with a relaxed style and humorous style. Among them, interesting topics cover various mathematical topics: arithmetic, money, speed, plane and solid geometry, countermeasures, probability, topology and so on. There are also subtle and interesting questions that ask you to have a quick brain teaser. There are detailed answers after each interesting question.
this is an entertaining book. Take you into the wonderful kingdom of mathematics with a relaxed style and humorous style. The interesting topics in the book cover almost all kinds of mathematical topics, such as arithmetic, money, speed, plane and solid geometry, countermeasures, probability, topology and so on. The book is divided into ten chapters, and these topics are discussed in an interesting way. And there are detailed answers after every interesting question, and you can find the "bright future" answer after exhausting your thoughts, which is really a pleasure. These interesting math questions can arouse your enthusiasm for thinking, and make you have a desire to explore and learn mathematics and logic in a conscious, active and happy mood. You can sit back and think deeply about the interesting questions, and you can also use them as mental gymnastics after dinner. And many interesting questions are still related to real life. Thinking is active in sports. I believe you can gain knowledge and experience in thinking. You will find that even in strict logic, there is endless vividness and fun, and the original seemingly rigorous math problems can be connected with daily life in a relaxed and easy way. As the title says, it is really fascinating.