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Gardner - in his 94th year as I write - has to me been one of the greatest unifiers of maths, both by joining up mathematicians in their shared love of his material, and also by joining up such a wide array of mathematical subjects between the covers of his books. Gardner’s monthly column in Scientific American was proof that there is a type of mathematics that can reach an extremely broad audience. Correspondence to his column would include papers from top mathematicians in their field as well as letters from lay enthusiasts in the general public. Who else has written so lucidly and accessibly about probability, logic, geometry, and number theory?
One particular feature that recurred throughout Martin Gardner’s books was his love of thought-provoking mathematical puzzles. There was always something classy and distinctive about any puzzle that appeared under Gardner’s name. His type of problem invariably required lateral insights to solve them, or turned out to have surprising answers that revealed an important mathematical point. Problems that Gardner brought to the public’s attention have become the meat and drink of mathematical conversations ever since. (For example he was discussing probability paradoxes years before the ‘Monty Hall’ problem became famous.)
It was he who got me interested in puzzles as a teenager,  and in the chain of events that followed ... |
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Maths That Connects To Everyone
One of the beauties of mathematics is that while there are some aspects of maths that are revealed to very few, there are others that can be enjoyed at all levels. Fermat’s Last Theorem is an example. Only a handful of mathematicians were able to understand Andrew Wiles’ proof, yet the problem posed by Fermat was a puzzle that could be enjoyed by a child just as much as a professional mathematician.
The best form of shared mathematics usually goes under the heading of ‘recreational maths’. Even the greatest mathematical minds take an interest in the subject’s recreational side. G.H. Hardy told the story of a visit he made to the mathematical genius Ramanujan, who was ill in hospital. Looking for something to open the conversation, Hardy mentioned that he had travelled in a taxi with the number 1729, which he thought seemed rather dull. "No," replied Ramanujan, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways." (1729 =  and also  .)
This quirky story engages most people who hear it, regardless of their mathematical ability. It is evidence, if any were needed, that a love of mathematics and the mathematical way of thinking is not restricted to those who pursue it to degree level. Indeed, the source of my greatest mathematical inspiration did not have a maths degree. His name: Martin Gardner. |
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