Games for Your Mind: The History and Future of Logic Puzzles

Jason Rosenhouse

Published by Princeton University Press 2020

Games for Your Mind

The History and Future of Logic Puzzles

Jason Rosenhouse

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691200347

Overview
Contents

About this book

A lively and engaging look at logic puzzles and their role in recreation, mathematics, and philosophy

Logic puzzles were first introduced to the public by Lewis Carroll in the late nineteenth century and have been popular ever since. Games like Sudoku and Mastermind are fun and engrossing recreational activities, but they also share deep foundations in mathematical logic and are worthy of serious intellectual inquiry. Games for Your Mind explores the history and future of logic puzzles while enabling you to test your skill against a variety of puzzles yourself.

In this informative and entertaining book, Jason Rosenhouse begins by introducing readers to logic and logic puzzles and goes on to reveal the rich history of these puzzles. He shows how Carroll's puzzles presented Aristotelian logic as a game for children, yet also informed his scholarly work on logic. He reveals how another pioneer of logic puzzles, Raymond Smullyan, drew on classic puzzles about liars and truthtellers to illustrate Kurt Gödel's theorems and illuminate profound questions in mathematical logic. Rosenhouse then presents a new vision for the future of logic puzzles based on nonclassical logic, which is used today in computer science and automated reasoning to manipulate large and sometimes contradictory sets of data.

Featuring a wealth of sample puzzles ranging from simple to extremely challenging, this lively and engaging book brings together many of the most ingenious puzzles ever devised, including the "Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever," metapuzzles, paradoxes, and the logic puzzles in detective stories.

Author / Editor information

Jason Rosenhouse is professor of mathematics at James Madison University. He is the author of The Monty Hall Problem: The Remarkable Story of Math's Most Contentious Brain Teaser and Among the Creationists: Dispatches from the Anti-Evolutionist Front Line. He is the coauthor (with Laura Taalman) of Taking Sudoku Seriously: The Math behind the World's Most Popular Pencil Puzzle and the coeditor (with Jennifer Beineke) of The Mathematics of Various Entertaining Subjects (Vols. 1–3) (Princeton).

Reviews

"Rosenhouse presents a rich variety of logic puzzles while introducing readers to the history of logic. Games for Your Mind is an engaging and accessible book that will appeal to people attracted to logic and can open a gate to more serious study as well."—Michał Walicki, author of Introduction to Mathematical Logic

"This book is a pleasure. All aspects of logic are explained in a clear and engaging manner, with many humorous touches, and Rosenhouse handles the philosophical aspects of logic just as skillfully as the mathematical ones. Games for Your Mind is a great introduction to logic for anyone who likes puzzles."—John Stillwell, author of Reverse Mathematics: Proofs from the Inside Out

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
I. The Pain and Pleasure of Logic
1. Is Logic Boring and Pointless? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. Logic Just for Fun Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
II. Lewis Carroll and Aristotelian Logic
3. Aristotle’s Syllogistic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
4. The Empuzzlement of Aristotelian Logic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
5. Sorites Puzzles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
6. Carroll’s Contributions to Mind Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
III. Raymond Smullyan and Mathematical Logic
7. Liars and Truthtellers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
8. From Aristotle to Russell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
9. Formal Systems in Life and Math Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
10. The Empuzzlement of Gödel’s Theorems Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
11. Question Puzzles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
IV. Puzzles Based on Nonclassical Logics
12. Should “Logics” Be a Word? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
13. Many-Valued Knights and Knaves Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
V. Miscellaneous Topics
14. The Saga of the Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
15. Metapuzzles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
16. Paradoxes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	274
17. A Guide to Some Literary Logic Puzzles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	292
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	327