Bücher von Des MacHale

Intended for kids, this fun book of puzzles includes many types of puzzle, of varying difficulty. It includes picture puzzles, mazes, math tests, lateral thinking, visual reasoning puzzles, along with spatial problems with solutions at the back.Are you a smart kid? Of course, you are, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this book. Do you find school so easy that sometimes you fall asleep from sheer boredom? Do you finish your homework sometimes even before you start? If so, this is the book for you - dozens of brain-stretching puzzles to make you even smarter! There are all sorts of puzzles in here - word puzzles, number puzzles, trick questions, Su Doku puzzles, geometric puzzles, old puzzles and new puzzles composed especially for you in this book. So get cracking and boost your brainpower by solving these puzzles written for smart kids. Have fun!

Comic Sections Plus is a revised and greatly expanded edition of the hugely popular book Comic Sections, published by Boole Press in 1993, and now long out of print. It is the biggest (and best!) compendium of material ever published relating to mathematical jokes, anecdotes, humour, wit and wisdom.The author writes: Much of Comic Sections Plus is devoted to 'anecjokes', that is, stories, jokes and anecdotes about mathematics and mathematicians, or jokes with a mathematical or logical content. I firmly believe that such material is not necessarily flippant, but has a serious if not essential role to play in the study, understanding, and popularisation of mathematics.Mathematics and humour are actually closely related and we can easily find structural links between the theorem and the joke. The mathematical problem and the facetious riddle have a lot in common too, and logic is undoubtedly a connecting link; mathematics is regarded as ultra-logical, while humour is often ultra-illogical, turning logic on its head. One rarely meets the legendary 'absentminded mathematician' in reality and in fact the level of appreciation of humour among mathematicians seems to be quite high, at least as great as that of any other profession. This is perhaps because mathematicians are quick to spot logical fallacies and also have to endure a considerable amount of jokes and humour, often made by other scientists. In addition, humour can be an excellent aid to teaching mathematics, as long as it is used skilfully and carefully.Historically, there have been several mathematical humorists, humorous mathematicians, and people with a foot in both camps. We may cite Lewis Carroll, Stephen Leacock, Tom Lehrer, Martin Gardner, Charles Babbage, John Paulos, Paul Erdos, Leo Moser, James Clerk Maxwell and John Horton Conway. This book draws on the contributions of these great luminaries, but also features the amusing blunders of the 'geniuses' at the other end of the spectrum of mathematical talent.Sadly, mathematics has the reputation of being the least popular and most difficult subject in school and college. We really cannot afford this state of affairs to continue, because mathematics is essential to virtually all human activity, since it is the basis of all organised knowledge. Perhaps the problem is that the subject has always been taken too seriously. Comic Sections Plus is an attempt to lighten mathematics, to make it more enjoyable, and above all to humanise it.

Sometimes called `imponderables' or `rhetoricals', they do not necessarily have answers. These silly questions are always amusing and often interesting because they concern the little unnoticed contradictions in life. Why do we write things down but type them up? Why do ships carry a cargo, while cars carry a shipment? And how did the guy who made the first clock know what time to set it to? This is philosophy for the man and woman in the street, but stuff the real philosophers are not able to answer. Our response can vary from `Yes, I've often wondered about that', through `How the hell should I know?' to `Who cares? This is the biggest collection of sillies ever assembled, and by the time you have finished reading them, you will begin to spot new questions for yourself, so it is a game anyone can learn and play. Have fun reading them using them to confuse and amuse others --- teachers, students ,parents, spouses, bosses, employees, and anyone you want to take down a peg.