Dennis E. Shasha – författare

In the tradition of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Ecco is one of the greatest sleuths of our time, a mathematical wizard who uses logic and computer programming to solve crimes, find treasures, and explore space. Join his team, expand the frontiers of your knowledge, and match wits with him on intriguing cases like "The Virus from the Spy" and "The Secrets of Space" and "The Caribou and the Gas." The puzzles collected here require no formal background beyond arithmetic and elementary algebra—just lively curiosity and keen intelligence. With thirty-six illustrated cases organized around eight major mathematical themes (from Combinatorial Geometry and Geography to Ciphers and Secrecy) this book will encourage you to use your mind and your computer in ways you never previously imagined.

Collected and enhanced from Dennis Shasha's popular Scientific American column, here are thirty-six of the most innovative and emotive mathematical puzzles ever to appear in its pages. Edgy, challenging and representing the ultimate in recreational mathematical games, Puzzling Adventures dares the reader to work out the logic underlying venture fund investments, escape a Minotaur, catch a polar bear, play power politics, work out if a witness is lying, spy on contraband traders and verify DNA. An encrypted set of stories and commentary float above the puzzles. They need decrypting to discover their hints. The hints lead to a surprise—if the reader can work them out.

Computers built from DNA, bacteria, or foam. Robots that fix themselves on Mars. Bridges that report when they are aging. This is the bizarre and fascinating world of Natural Computing. Computer scientist and Scientific American’s “Puzzling Adventures” columnist Dennis Shasha here teams up with journalist Cathy Lazere to explore the outer reaches of computing. Drawing on interviews with fifteen leading scientists, the authors present an unexpected vision: the future of computing is a synthesis with nature. That vision will change not only computer science but also fields as disparate as finance, engineering, and medicine. Space engineers are at work designing machines that adapt to extreme weather and radiation. “Wetware” processing built on DNA or bacterial cells races closer to reality. One scientist’s “extended analog computer” measures answers instead of calculating them using ones and zeros. In lively, readable prose, Shasha and Lazere take readers on a tour of the future of smart machines.

Aimed at both working programmers who are applying for a job where puzzles are an integral part of the interview, as well as techies who just love a good puzzle, this book offers a cache of exciting puzzlesFeatures a new series of puzzles, never before published, called elimination puzzles that have a pedagogical aim of helping the reader solve an entire class of Sudoku-like puzzlesProvides the tools to solve the puzzles by hand and computerThe first part of each chapter presents a puzzle; the second part shows readers how to solve several classes of puzzles algorithmically; the third part asks the reader to solve a mystery involving codes, puzzles, and geographyComes with a unique bonus: if readers actually solve the mystery, they have a chance to win a prize, which will be promoted on wrox.com!