Aha! Insight
by Martin Gardner · first published 1978
6mentions
4recommended by
6HN commenters
2014–2023first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
Contains puzzles that first baffle and then delight problem solving addicts. Grew out of a collaboration between Bob Tappay and Martin Gardner to enliven the learning of mathematics.
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If anyone is looking for a starting point to Gardner's vast works, I highly recommend "Aha! Insight."
on “Martin Gardner, puzzle master extraordinaire” ↗This is different from the other answers, but it does answer your question: When I was a kid I had tons of math and logic puzzle books. Two I remember specifically are "Aha! Insight" and "Aha! Gotcha" by Martin Gardner. Decades later, when a math problem comes up in my work, I have an apparently unusual ability to cut to the heart of it ("by symmetry, we must have X" or "looking…
on “Ask HN: Math books that made you significantly better at math?” ↗My favorite books by Gardner, and these are great introductions to his lighthearted approach to math, are the pair Aha! Insight [1] and Aha! Gotcha. These are probably the least rigorous works he made, but extremely fun and still tackle interesting subjects (in other words, great for kids). If you want something longer form or…
on “The Importance of Recreational Math” ↗Actually both books, but I was particularly thinking first of the "Aha Insight!" book, which has like 100 different problems where some clever thinking/turning around the problem statement helps to solve it. The other one ("Aha Gotcha"), you are right is more about paradoxes that…
on “Masterclass on mathematical thinking” ↗Your friend read Martin Gardner's aha! Insight, which has exactly this proof in it and is a popular book for young mathematical puzzle enthusiasts.
on “The Simple Proof of the Tetris Lamp” ↗The reference that comes to mind for me is something out of one of Martin Gardner's _Aha! Insight_ books from decades ago -- the idea of encoding something like the Encyclopedia Britannica into one big long bitstring, then converting it into a fraction... and putting one single very careful mark on…
on “In Game of Life any buildable pattern can be constructed by colliding 15 gliders” ↗