- Hardcover: 322 pages
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press (28 Nov 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0521571979
- ISBN-13: 978-0521571975
- Product Dimensions: 24.5 x 18.5 x 2.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,723,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Review
'A wonderfully entertaining book …' Scientific American
'A beautiful book that entices, entertains, fascinates, and instructs. Collects, organizes, and presents 2000+ years of discovery alongside exciting new contributions. Complete, thorough, fun to read; this will be a classic.' American Mathematical Monthly
'… beautiful and wittily presented … The book can be enjoyed at many levels.' SIAM Review
'In this book, you will find some of the most challenging of dissection type puzzles, sure to keep you interested from the opening slice to the final splice.' Journal of Recreational Mathematics
'Cutting a geometrical figure into the smallest number of pieces that will rearrange to make a different figure is one of the most elegant and surprising branches of recreational mathematics. No one knows more about this, or is more skilled at breaking old records, than Greg Frederickson. His book will be a classic.' Martin Gardner
'The text is very lavishly illustrated, and as is only to be expected from the publisher the printing and layout are impeccable. The topic of this book is very restricted, but within its limits the wealth of material is amazing: if you are already into it, you will be in clover, while if you are new to it, you will become hooked! An earlier review (quoted on the back cover of the present book) of the hardback edition says 'His book will be a classic'. I fully agree! Thoroughly recommended.' The Mathematical Gazette
'Every puzzle fan will like this interesting and amusing book.' EMS Newsletter
'A beautiful book that entices, entertains, fascinates, and instructs. Collects, organizes, and presents 2000+ years of discovery alongside exciting new contributions. Complete, thorough, fun to read; this will be a classic.' American Mathematical Monthly
'… beautiful and wittily presented … The book can be enjoyed at many levels.' SIAM Review
'In this book, you will find some of the most challenging of dissection type puzzles, sure to keep you interested from the opening slice to the final splice.' Journal of Recreational Mathematics
'Cutting a geometrical figure into the smallest number of pieces that will rearrange to make a different figure is one of the most elegant and surprising branches of recreational mathematics. No one knows more about this, or is more skilled at breaking old records, than Greg Frederickson. His book will be a classic.' Martin Gardner
'The text is very lavishly illustrated, and as is only to be expected from the publisher the printing and layout are impeccable. The topic of this book is very restricted, but within its limits the wealth of material is amazing: if you are already into it, you will be in clover, while if you are new to it, you will become hooked! An earlier review (quoted on the back cover of the present book) of the hardback edition says 'His book will be a classic'. I fully agree! Thoroughly recommended.' The Mathematical Gazette
'Every puzzle fan will like this interesting and amusing book.' EMS Newsletter
Michael Keller, World Game Review, February 1998
"Dissections: Plane & Fancy" brings the field up to date with recent discoveries, and like its predecessor is beautifully illustrated, but the new volume makes much more interesting reading, full of history, literary pastiches, biographies of nearly 50 contributors to the field of dissections, and Frederickson's accounts of his own discoveries and how he came to make them. . . . This is an essential book for anyone with interest in geometric dissections.
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First Sentence
The puzzle in the preceding reminiscence was a physical model of the dissection shown in Figure 1.1. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The puzzle in the preceding reminiscence was a physical model of the dissection shown in Figure 1.1. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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1 review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Slicing and splicing for enjoyment
1 Aug 2000
Format:Hardcover
Dissections are one area of mathematics where theory usually plays a secondary role to intuition. While the discovery of a solution may take an enormous amount of trial and effort, understanding it is generally a simple verification. For these reasons, dissections can aptly be described as an area of popular mathematics. The puzzles of Sam Loyd were extremely popular, with one even described as having been a national craze in the United States, and some of his most diabolical were dissections. His English counterpart and rival was Henry Dudeney, whose collected works of puzzles also contains many dissections.
As befits the development of abstract geometry centuries ago, the art of dissection goes all the way back to the age of Plato. Starting with a geometric shape and cutting it into pieces that can be rearranged to form another shape is something that clearly is more of a hobby than a career, although it is possible that it may have some applications in space filling.
Art and hobbies aside, this is a fun book to explore. Since the subject matter is the slicing and splicing of geometric figures, most of the results are presented as diagrams, making the solutions easy to understand. One thought constantly leapt to mind when I was examining some of the diagrams, "How did they think of doing that?" Obvious only after the fact, many dissections are hardly something that would easily leap to mind. Additional puzzles are interspersed throughout the text and solutions to all are included at the end of the book.
The public loves puzzles, as the popularity of some game shows and regular puzzle columns in newspapers and magazines demonstrates. In this book, you will find some of the most challenging of dissection type puzzles, sure to keep you interested from the opening slice to the final splice.
Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.
As befits the development of abstract geometry centuries ago, the art of dissection goes all the way back to the age of Plato. Starting with a geometric shape and cutting it into pieces that can be rearranged to form another shape is something that clearly is more of a hobby than a career, although it is possible that it may have some applications in space filling.
Art and hobbies aside, this is a fun book to explore. Since the subject matter is the slicing and splicing of geometric figures, most of the results are presented as diagrams, making the solutions easy to understand. One thought constantly leapt to mind when I was examining some of the diagrams, "How did they think of doing that?" Obvious only after the fact, many dissections are hardly something that would easily leap to mind. Additional puzzles are interspersed throughout the text and solutions to all are included at the end of the book.
The public loves puzzles, as the popularity of some game shows and regular puzzle columns in newspapers and magazines demonstrates. In this book, you will find some of the most challenging of dissection type puzzles, sure to keep you interested from the opening slice to the final splice.
Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.
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