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Recreational mathematics or puzzles with serious mathematical content. Note that math contest problems are generally considered off-topic.

2 votes

probability and math puzzle books/references

Some of the math problems have appeared in his various puzzle columns for BBC Radio and TV, Canadian Broadcasting, Focus (the UK popular science magazine), Games and Puzzles, the Los Angeles Times, Micromath … , the Puzzle a Day memo pad and the Weekend Telegraph. …
8 votes
Accepted

Undecidable puzzles

Typing "undecidable" and "puzzle" into MathSciNet turned up a couple of candidates. … Math. 144 (2004), no. 3, 345–358; MR2098189 (2005j:94043)] showing the same for the 4-color Tantrix puzzle. …
Gerry Myerson's user avatar
30 votes
Accepted

Integers in a triangle, and differences

This is the first problem in Chapter 9 of Martin Gardner, Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers. In the addendum to the chapter, he writes that Herbert Taylor has proved it can't be done for $n\gt5$. Unfo …
Gerry Myerson's user avatar
12 votes

Math puzzles for dinner

Instead of recommending some puzzles, I'll recommend some books containing many puzzles. Peter Winkler, Mathematical Puzzles; Peter Winkler, Mathematical Mind-Benders; Miodrag Petkovic, Famous Puzzles …
7 votes
Accepted

How many unit squares can you pack into a rectangle with nearly integer side lengths?

There's a fair bit of literature about efficient packing of squares in squares. See, e.g., Kearney and Shiu, Efficient packing of unit squares in a square, available at http://www.emis.de/journals/EJC …
Gerry Myerson's user avatar