tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post7075507661128327197..comments2024-03-06T13:50:29.718+05:30Comments on E's flat, ah's flat too: Happy birthday, Martin GardnerRahul Siddharthanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04809667965184094636noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-60774043563077047982009-10-21T11:49:17.684+05:302009-10-21T11:49:17.684+05:30In fact I remember all your examples from the Peng...In fact I remember all your examples from the Penguin-series collections (which included "addenda" based on reader feedback). I think Sam Loyd was real (Wikipedia has an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Loyd" rel="nofollow">entry</a>): Gardner published a couple of collections of his puzzles, and while he used several pseudonyms I don't think he used that one. He also wrote about Henry Ernest Dudeney, an English puzzlist and contemporary of Loyd.Rahul Siddharthanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04809667965184094636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-67240028508530889902009-10-21T10:33:38.959+05:302009-10-21T10:33:38.959+05:30I used to have a subscription to Scientific Americ...I used to have a subscription to Scientific American in the 70s, courtesy of a friend of our family in the US. I remember Martin Gardner's column was one of the first I would turn to with each new issue. And I still remember one particular division puzzle where the quotient was 80809 and you had to find both the divident and the divisor. (You were given the number of long division steps but no numbers). I recall solving it after much effort and my joy knew no bounds. <br /><br />His other fascinating column was on Sam Loyd's puzzles, Sam Loyd being apparently a 19th century mathematical dilettante. I was never quite sure whether he was a real figure or whether Gardner just made him up! BTW Gardner also had a fascinating card game which I have played, called Eleusis.Rahul Basuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751088048215388592noreply@blogger.com