Half a Century of Pythagoras Magazine is a selection of the best and most inspiring articles from this Dutch magazine for recreational mathematics. Founded in 1961 and still thriving today, Pythagoras has given generations of high school students in the Netherlands a perspective on the many branches of mathematics that are not taught in schools. The book contains a mix of easy, yet original puzzles, more challenging - and at least as original – problems, as well as playful introductions to a plethora of subjects in algebra, geometry, topology, number theory and more. Concepts like the sudoku and the magic square are given a whole new dimension. One of the first editors was a personal friend of world famous Dutch graphic artist Maurits Escher, whose 'impossible objects' have been a recurring subject over the years. Articles about his work are part of a special section on 'Mathematics and Art'. While many books on recreational mathematics rely heavily on 'folklore', a reservoir of ancient riddles and games that are being recycled over and over again, most of the puzzles and problems in Half a Century of Pythagoras Magazine are original, invented for this magazine by Pythagoras' many editors and authors over the years. Some are no more than cute little brainteasers which can be solved in a minute, others touch on profound mathematics and can keep the reader entranced indefinitely. Smart high school students and anyone else with a sharp and inquisitive mind will find in this book a treasure trove which is rich enough to keep his or her mind engaged for many weeks and months.

The Fourth International Conference on the History of Mathematics Education was hosted by Academy of Sciences and University of Turin (Italy). About 50 senior and junior researchers from 16 countries met for four days to talk about one topic: the history of mathematics education. In total 44 contributions were presented. The themes were Ideas, people and movements, Transmission of ideas, Teacher education, Geometry and textbooks, Textbooks – changes and origins, Curriculum and reform, Teaching in special institutions, and Teaching of geometry. In this volume you find 28 of the papers, all of them peer-reviewed. Since the first international conference on the history of mathematics education, the aim has been to develop this area of research, to attract more researchers and provide new insights that stimulate further “digging”. It is therefore very pleasing that so many new young researchers joined the conference, presenting results from ongoing or recently finished PhD projects. This makes us confident about a prosperous future of this research area as we look forward to the Fifth International Conference on the History of Mathematics Education, to be held in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in September 2017. Previous international conferences on the history of mathematics education: 2009 in Garðabær (Iceland) 2011 in Lisbon (Portugal) 2013 in Uppsala (Sweden)

Put your wits—and survival instincts—to the test! Publisher’s Note: Perilous Problems for Puzzle Lovers was previously published in the UK under the title So You Think You’ve Got Problems? In Perilous Problems for Puzzle Lovers, Alex Bellos collects 125 of the world’s greatest stumpers—many dangerous to your person, and all dangerous to your pride. Brace yourself to wrestle with wordplay, grapple with geometry, and scramble for survival. For example . . . Ten lions and a sheep are in a pen. Any lion who eats the sheep will fall asleep. A sleeping lion will be eaten by another lion, who falls asleep in turn. If the lions are all perfect logicians, what happens? Bellos pairs his fiendish brainteasers with fascinating history, so you’ll meet Alcuin, Sam Loyd, and other puzzle masters of yore—in between deranged despots and wily jailers with an unaccountable taste for riddles. Will you make it out alive? And what about the sheep?