The most mind-bending puzzles on the internet appear weekly in Oliver Roeder’s “The Riddler” column. Presented by Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, an online mecca for statistics nerds, the column attracts a rabid community of puzzlers (including the coach of the U.S. Math Olympiad team and a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) who rush to submit solutions and extensions.Now, FiveThirtyEight presents the first-ever Riddler collection, featuring the column’s most popular problems, which draw on geometry, logic, statistics and game theory, along with six never-before-published puzzles. The simplest require a mere flash of insight, whilst the toughest involve deep applications of analysis and probability theory. Can you rig an election? What’s the best way to drop a smartphone? Can you solve the puzzle of the overflowing martini glass? Designed to appeal to a range of skill levels, The Riddler will be the perfect gift for any maths or puzzle enthusiast.

Checkers, backgammon, chess and Go. Poker, Scrabble and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules and the ways their design makes them pleasurable.Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across fourty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism” and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon programme so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt; the Indian origins of chess; how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones.Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself.Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programmes better than any human player and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history and how play makes us human.

Checkers, backgammon, chess and Go. Poker, Scrabble and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules and the ways their design makes them pleasurable.Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across fourty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism” and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon programme so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt; the Indian origins of chess; how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones.Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself.Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programmes better than any human player and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history and how play makes us human.

Examination Thesis from the year 2000 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2.0 (B), University of Koblenz-Landau (Anglistics), language: English, abstract: This paper is about linguistic imperialism and linguistic ecology in respect of the indigenous languages of Australia. The linguistic complexities in Australia are immense, as are the fields of research of linguistic imperialism and linguistic ecology. Neither is the research in the fields mentioned above terminated nor has the development in Australia reached an end. As a result, the paper is only able to provide a snapshot. The first chapter serves as an introduction. The reader should familiarize her-/ himself with the history and culture of a people, which is unique and distinct from any other civilization. It refers to the initial settlement of the Australian continent, as well as it touches in short specific traits of Aboriginal culture. Answers are provided to questions like, What is language? , What are the characteristics of Aboriginal languages and Aboriginal English? Linguistic imperialism will be discussed in chapter two. From what point on can a relationship between any given subjects be called, in its widest meaning, imperialistic? The chapter refers to Galtung (1980), whose observations are still valid today and gives a historical overview of the rise of the English language from a European Germanic language spoken on the British Islands to a global language, especially focusing on the development in the 19th and 20th century. Linguistic ecology is a rather new field of research in linguistics. Chapter three reflects on a research orientation which developed in the 1960s and 1970s due to Haugen, who gave the term ecology a linguistic meaning. It tries to show the parallels between biodiversity and cultural/ linguistic diversity and why it has become so important to be aware that not only plants and animals are seriously endangered and need special protection, but also languages. Additionally, other fields of interest of language ecology are introduced in the chapter. The last chapter deals with the impact European settlement had on indigenous language variety, and the problems contemporary Australian society is confronted with. Australia s language policy will not only be outlined in regard of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander s native tongue, but also in regard of community languages. Which possibilities has the Australian government to deal with the problem and which language maintenance efforts have been called into action so far?Australian Aborigines 3 1 Australian Aborigines[...]

Die 49 verblüffendsten, beliebtesten und interessantesten Mathematikrätsel der Kolumne „The Riddler“ auf der Nachrichtenseite „FiveThirtyEight“ sind in diesem Buch für das kleine (oder größere) Rätselabenteuer zwischendurch gesammelt. Erforschen Sie dabei alltägliche Vorkommnisse mit Mathematik und Verstand:Wie Sie am besten Ihr Smartphone fallen lassenKönnen Sie den unsteten Prinzen finden?Die Quadratur des QuadratsVorsicht mit dem Martini-Glas!Können Sie die Alien-Invasion stoppen?Besetzt oder nicht besetzt – das ist hier die FrageUnd wenn Roboter Ihre Pizza schneiden?Werden Sie (ja Sie!) die Wahl entscheiden?Und vieles mehr! Die einfachsten Rätsel erfordern bloß einen Geistesblitz, während Sie für die schwierigsten schon ein gewisses Geschick in Analysis und Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie benötigen. Die „Fantastischen Rätsel“ sind ein Muss für jeden Mathematik- oder Rätselliebhaber! "Ein modernes, intelligentes Rätselbuch, wie ich es noch nie zuvor gesehen habe, dessen mathematische und logische Herausforderungen Ihr Gehirn auf neue Art und Weise fordern werden" - Will Shortz, New York Times, NPR-PuzzlemasterDer HerausgeberOliver Roeder war Redakteur bei FiveThirtyEight und Herausgeber der mathematischen Kolumne „The Riddler“. Er hat in Wirtschaftswissenschaften mit Schwerpunkt Spieltheorie promoviert und war Nieman fellow an der Harvard University 2020. Er lebt in Brooklyn, New York.

Die 49 verblüffendsten, beliebtesten und interessantesten Mathematikrätsel der Kolumne „The Riddler“ auf der Nachrichtenseite „FiveThirtyEight“ sind in diesem Buch für das kleine (oder größere) Rätselabenteuer zwischendurch gesammelt. Erforschen Sie dabei alltägliche Vorkommnisse mit Mathematik und Verstand:

Wie Sie am besten Ihr Smartphone fallen lassenKönnen Sie den unsteten Prinzen finden?Die Quadratur des QuadratsVorsicht mit dem Martini-Glas!Können Sie die Alien-Invasion stoppen?Besetzt oder nicht besetzt – das ist hier die FrageUnd wenn Roboter Ihre Pizza schneiden?Werden Sie (ja Sie!) die Wahl entscheiden?

Und vieles mehr!

 

Die einfachsten Rätsel erfordern bloß einen Geistesblitz, während Sie für die schwierigsten schon ein gewisses Geschick in Analysis und Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie benötigen. Die „Fantastischen Rätsel“ sind ein Muss für jeden Mathematik- oder Rätselliebhaber!

"Ein modernes, intelligentes Rätselbuch, wie ich es noch nie zuvor gesehen habe, dessen mathematische und logische Herausforderungen Ihr Gehirn auf neue Art und Weise fordern werden" - Will Shortz, New York Times, NPR-Puzzlemaster

Der Herausgeber

Oliver Roeder war Redakteur bei FiveThirtyEight und Herausgeber der mathematischen Kolumne „The Riddler“. Er hat in Wirtschaftswissenschaften mit Schwerpunkt Spieltheorie promoviert und war Nieman fellow an der Harvard University 2020. Er lebt in Brooklyn, New York.

The most mind-bending puzzles on the internet appear weekly in Oliver Roeder’s “The Riddler” column. Presented by Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, an online mecca for statistics nerds, the column attracts a rabid community of puzzlers (including the coach of the U.S. Math Olympiad team and a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) who rush to submit solutions and extensions.Now, FiveThirtyEight presents the first-ever Riddler collection, featuring the column’s most popular problems, which draw on geometry, logic, statistics and game theory, along with six never-before-published puzzles. The simplest require a mere flash of insight, whilst the toughest involve deep applications of analysis and probability theory. Can you rig an election? What’s the best way to drop a smartphone? Can you solve the puzzle of the overflowing martini glass? Designed to appeal to a range of skill levels, The Riddler will be the perfect gift for any maths or puzzle enthusiast.

Checkers, backgammon, chess and Go. Poker, Scrabble and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules and the ways their design makes them pleasurable.Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across fourty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism” and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon programme so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt; the Indian origins of chess; how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones.Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself.Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programmes better than any human player and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history and how play makes us human.

Checkers, backgammon, chess and Go. Poker, Scrabble and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules and the ways their design makes them pleasurable.Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across fourty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism” and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon programme so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt; the Indian origins of chess; how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones.Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself.Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programmes better than any human player and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history and how play makes us human.

Examination Thesis from the year 2000 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2.0 (B), University of Koblenz-Landau (Anglistics), language: English, abstract: This paper is about linguistic imperialism and linguistic ecology in respect of the indigenous languages of Australia. The linguistic complexities in Australia are immense, as are the fields of research of linguistic imperialism and linguistic ecology. Neither is the research in the fields mentioned above terminated nor has the development in Australia reached an end. As a result, the paper is only able to provide a snapshot. The first chapter serves as an introduction. The reader should familiarize her-/ himself with the history and culture of a people, which is unique and distinct from any other civilization. It refers to the initial settlement of the Australian continent, as well as it touches in short specific traits of Aboriginal culture. Answers are provided to questions like, What is language? , What are the characteristics of Aboriginal languages and Aboriginal English? Linguistic imperialism will be discussed in chapter two. From what point on can a relationship between any given subjects be called, in its widest meaning, imperialistic? The chapter refers to Galtung (1980), whose observations are still valid today and gives a historical overview of the rise of the English language from a European Germanic language spoken on the British Islands to a global language, especially focusing on the development in the 19th and 20th century. Linguistic ecology is a rather new field of research in linguistics. Chapter three reflects on a research orientation which developed in the 1960s and 1970s due to Haugen, who gave the term ecology a linguistic meaning. It tries to show the parallels between biodiversity and cultural/ linguistic diversity and why it has become so important to be aware that not only plants and animals are seriously endangered and need special protection, but also languages. Additionally, other fields of interest of language ecology are introduced in the chapter. The last chapter deals with the impact European settlement had on indigenous language variety, and the problems contemporary Australian society is confronted with. Australia s language policy will not only be outlined in regard of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander s native tongue, but also in regard of community languages. Which possibilities has the Australian government to deal with the problem and which language maintenance efforts have been called into action so far?Australian Aborigines 3 1 Australian Aborigines[...]

Die 49 verblüffendsten, beliebtesten und interessantesten Mathematikrätsel der Kolumne „The Riddler“ auf der Nachrichtenseite „FiveThirtyEight“ sind in diesem Buch für das kleine (oder größere) Rätselabenteuer zwischendurch gesammelt. Erforschen Sie dabei alltägliche Vorkommnisse mit Mathematik und Verstand:Wie Sie am besten Ihr Smartphone fallen lassenKönnen Sie den unsteten Prinzen finden?Die Quadratur des QuadratsVorsicht mit dem Martini-Glas!Können Sie die Alien-Invasion stoppen?Besetzt oder nicht besetzt – das ist hier die FrageUnd wenn Roboter Ihre Pizza schneiden?Werden Sie (ja Sie!) die Wahl entscheiden?Und vieles mehr! Die einfachsten Rätsel erfordern bloß einen Geistesblitz, während Sie für die schwierigsten schon ein gewisses Geschick in Analysis und Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie benötigen. Die „Fantastischen Rätsel“ sind ein Muss für jeden Mathematik- oder Rätselliebhaber! "Ein modernes, intelligentes Rätselbuch, wie ich es noch nie zuvor gesehen habe, dessen mathematische und logische Herausforderungen Ihr Gehirn auf neue Art und Weise fordern werden" - Will Shortz, New York Times, NPR-PuzzlemasterDer HerausgeberOliver Roeder war Redakteur bei FiveThirtyEight und Herausgeber der mathematischen Kolumne „The Riddler“. Er hat in Wirtschaftswissenschaften mit Schwerpunkt Spieltheorie promoviert und war Nieman fellow an der Harvard University 2020. Er lebt in Brooklyn, New York.

Die 49 verblüffendsten, beliebtesten und interessantesten Mathematikrätsel der Kolumne „The Riddler“ auf der Nachrichtenseite „FiveThirtyEight“ sind in diesem Buch für das kleine (oder größere) Rätselabenteuer zwischendurch gesammelt. Erforschen Sie dabei alltägliche Vorkommnisse mit Mathematik und Verstand:

Wie Sie am besten Ihr Smartphone fallen lassenKönnen Sie den unsteten Prinzen finden?Die Quadratur des QuadratsVorsicht mit dem Martini-Glas!Können Sie die Alien-Invasion stoppen?Besetzt oder nicht besetzt – das ist hier die FrageUnd wenn Roboter Ihre Pizza schneiden?Werden Sie (ja Sie!) die Wahl entscheiden?

Und vieles mehr!

 

Die einfachsten Rätsel erfordern bloß einen Geistesblitz, während Sie für die schwierigsten schon ein gewisses Geschick in Analysis und Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie benötigen. Die „Fantastischen Rätsel“ sind ein Muss für jeden Mathematik- oder Rätselliebhaber!

"Ein modernes, intelligentes Rätselbuch, wie ich es noch nie zuvor gesehen habe, dessen mathematische und logische Herausforderungen Ihr Gehirn auf neue Art und Weise fordern werden" - Will Shortz, New York Times, NPR-Puzzlemaster

Der Herausgeber

Oliver Roeder war Redakteur bei FiveThirtyEight und Herausgeber der mathematischen Kolumne „The Riddler“. Er hat in Wirtschaftswissenschaften mit Schwerpunkt Spieltheorie promoviert und war Nieman fellow an der Harvard University 2020. Er lebt in Brooklyn, New York.