Sam Loyd's Book of Tangrams (Paperback)

Description

---

The original "Chinese puzzle," the challenge of the tangram lies in your ability to arrange seven geometrical piecesa square, a rhomboid, and five trianglesinto a variety of different shapes. Collected by America's great puzzle expert, here are 700 endlessly absorbing tangrams offering hours of mind-expanding amusement.
"Sam Loyd's Book of Tangrams" is also a tribute to this tricky but intriguing puzzle. In a famous and delightful spoof of the tangram's history, Loyd includes running commentary on the popular puzzle's origins in ancient China, its religious significance, and its relation to the Pythagorean theorem. But don't let the amusing dialogue fool you The puzzles are genuine challenges. If you've ever tried your hand at tangrams before, you're probably already addicted to their limitless possibilities. If you haven't, this classic puzzle potpourri will have you hooked in no time Solutions are included.

About the Author

---

Sam Loyd: The Master Puzzler

Born in Philadelphia in 1841, Sam Loyd went on to create a career for himself as the first and greatest of American puzzle masters, publishing his first efforts while still in his teens and continuing relentlessly for decades in books, magazines, and newspapers. A brilliant mathematical mind, a great composer of chess puzzles, a tireless self-promoter, and something of a rogue, Loyd was not at all above taking credit for composing puzzles he didn't actually compose and accomplishing things he didn't actually do, such as inventing the game of Parcheesi. Loyd nevertheless left behind an indelible puzzlist's legacy, encompassing puzzles of all kinds and varieties, which has not been equaled in the century since he died in 1911. Loyd once challenged the great chess champion Wilhelm Steinitz to solve an impromptu chess problem in less time than he, Loyd, took to compose it, and barely lost that bet to one of the greatest chess players ever. Martin Gardner brought his vast knowledge of and fascination with Loyd's work to Dover in the 1950s, and the Dover edition of "Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd" has been in print continuously since 1959. Loyd's varied accomplishments underscore the connection that has always existed between mathematics and chess, and between recreational mathematicians and chess players.