Question

Hi All,
I'd like to solve some math puzzles, especially in the context of probability theory, but I'm open to other areas too. The kind of problems that does not require much knowledge of mathematics, except, perhaps, for a basic background.

I found this one helpful
http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Challenging-Problems-Probability-Solutions/dp/0486653552

but I was wondering if you folks could recommend others.

Thank you

Answer 1

Problems and Snapshots from the World of Probability by Gunnar Blom, Lars Holst, and Dennis Sandell is a book that I like very much. Their problems are pretty challenging and assume a working knowledge of basic probability.

Answer 2

From the Russian masters of recreational mathematics: Challenging Mathematical Problems with Elementary Solutions, Vol. 1: Combinatorial Analysis and Probability Theory by Yaglom & Yaglom.

Answer 3

"Mathematical circles" by Fomin,Genkin,Itenberg is a nice collection of puzzles|problems.

Answer 4

Raymond Smullian's many books of logic puzzles are quite nice (if you like that sort of thing).

Answer 5

On the site of the International Mathematics Olympiad all past problems can be found. They tend to be quite difficult but no advanced math is required.

Answer 6

There are some good math puzzles from interviews over here:

Interview Puzzles and Answers

Answer 7

David Williams has a book called Probability with Martingales which includes some excellent puzzles as exercises. These are often easy to state but require real trickery to prove.

In the spirit of doetoe's answer, I also recommend the Putnam. They don't have a ton of probability based puzzles but they do have some. That website also has old AIME problems and solutions. In both cases the problems are tricky and fun.