{"product_id":"alcuins-recreational-mathematics-river-crossings-and-other-timeless-puzzles-9780198925309","title":"Alcuin's Recreational Mathematics: River Crossings and Other Timeless Puzzles","description":"\u003cem\u003ePropositiones ad acuendos juvenes\u003c\/em\u003e (\"Problems to Sharpen the Young\") is a ninth-century book written by medieval teacher and scholar Alcuin of York. Today, it has become one of the foundational texts in what is commonly called recreational mathematics. The book has been translated in many languages and analysed from various mathematical angles and perspectives, from contemporary arithmetic and geometry to the nature of sequences. It is not only a collection of ingenious and challenging puzzles, but the core ideas collected in this book have become major themes and branches of mathematics. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHere, Marcel Danesi revisits all fifty-three problems in Alcuin's original text, providing detailed solutions and analyses. \u003cem\u003eAlcuin's Recreational Mathematics \u003c\/em\u003eexamines the problems in the \u003cem\u003ePropositiones\u003c\/em\u003e in easy-to-follow language, extracting from them the notions and techniques that today constitute basic mathematics. Each chapter discusses Alcuin's problems more broadly, and ends with ten exploratory puzzles based on Alcuin's original problems and related themes. Answers and detailed solutions are included at the back. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlcuin's Recreational Mathematics\u003c\/em\u003e demonstrates how Alcuin's \u003cem\u003ePropositiones\u003c\/em\u003e puts basic mathematical thinking on display via ingenious problems that often require outside-of-the-box thinking, constituting an original and imaginative investigation of mathematics in its essence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarcel Danesi, \u003cem\u003eProfessor Emeritus Anthropology, University of Toronto\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProfessor Marcel Danesi\u003c\/strong\u003e is Professor Emeritus of linguistic anthropology at the University of Toronto. He directed the Program in Semiotics and, together with various cognitive scientists and mathematicians, founded the CogSci Center for the study of mathematics and mind at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. He has published considerably in several areas of recreational mathematics and mathematics education. His research examines the relationship between mathematical cognition, language, and the arts.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51384363155730,"sku":"9780198925309","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_33592248-24fc-4f72-be26-eb990942b40c.jpg?v=1750172404","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/alcuins-recreational-mathematics-river-crossings-and-other-timeless-puzzles-9780198925309","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}