This series aims to capture new and exciting work in Recreational Mathematics, loosely defined as ‘mathematics arising from recreational and esthetic pursuits’, though we are happy to bend that definition to accommodate almost anything that explores mathematics with a spirit of creativity, and curiosity. In the past century, Recreational Mathematics has proven itself as a way to engage a wider audience with the subject, and also as a catalyst for deep research in the field.
The remit of the series is extremely broad, featuring books taking a mathematical approach to puzzles, games, origami, visual arts, literary arts, performing arts, history, magic and more besides.
We welcome all manner of text-types, though we do especially value those books that can be used in an educational setting and which are accessible to readers with minimal mathematical background.
If you have a manuscript, proposal, or even just the beginnings of an idea, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
By Samuel Dittmer, Hiram Golze, Grant Molnar, Caleb Stanford
August 13, 2024
Puzzle and Proof: A Decade of Problems from the Utah Math Olympiad is a compilation of the problems and solutions for the first ten years of the Utah Math Olympiad. The problems are challenging but should be understandable at a high school level. Besides putting all problems in one place (70 in ...
By Aaron Montgomery
July 24, 2024
Mathematics of Tabletop Games provides a bridge between mathematics and hobby tabletop gaming. Instead of focusing on games mathematicians play, such as nim and chomp, this book starts with the tabletop games played by avid gamers and hopes to address the question: which field of mathematics ...
By David Angell, Thomas Britz
June 27, 2024
Parabola is a mathematics magazine published by UNSW, Sydney. Among other things, each issue of Parabola has contained a collection of puzzles/problems, on various mathematical topics and at a suitable level for younger (but mathematically sophisticated) readers. Parabolic Problems: 60 Years of ...
By Peter Winkler
June 21, 2024
Research in mathematics is much more than solving puzzles, but most people will agree that solving puzzles is not just fun: it helps focus the mind and increases one's armory of techniques for doing mathematics. Mathematical Puzzles makes this connection explicit by isolating important mathematical...
By Hans Zantema
April 22, 2024
This is a book about infinity — specifically the infinity of numbers, and how one kind of infinity is greater than all the rest. Along the way the author will demonstrate how infinity can be made to create beautiful ‘art’, and how this process can help us to understand the fundamental nature of ...
By Stephen Erfle
February 20, 2024
String art is a well-known and popular activity that uses string, a board, and nails to produce artistic images (although there are variations that use different modalities). This activity is beloved because simple counting rules are used to create beautiful images that can both adorn walls and ...
By Jon-Lark Kim
December 14, 2023
Mathematicians Playing Games explores a wide variety of popular mathematical games, including their historical beginnings and the mathematical theories that underpin them. Its academic level is suitable for high school students and higher, but people of any age or level will find something to ...
By Yohei Yamamoto, Jun Mitani
November 09, 2023
Design Techniques for Origami Tessellations is both a collection of origami tessellations and a manual to design them. This book begins by explaining general design methods, the history and definitions of origami tessellations, and the geometric features of flat origami, before moving on to ...
By Mark Bollman
August 31, 2023
Basic Gambling Mathematics: The Numbers Behind the Neon, Second Edition explains the mathematics involved in analyzing games of chance, including casino games, horse racing and other sports, and lotteries. The book helps readers understand the mathematical reasons why some gambling games are better...
By Desmond MacHale
August 31, 2023
Lateral Solutions to Mathematical Problems offers a fresh approach to mathematical problem solving via lateral thinking. Lateral thinking has long been used informally by good mathematics teachers and lecturers to spice up their material and interest their students in the more artistic aspects of ...
By Barry R. Clarke
August 04, 2023
Want to sharpen your mathematical wits? If so, then Mathematical Conundrums is for you. Daily Telegraph enigmatologist, Barry R. Clarke, presents over 120 fiendish problems that will test both your ingenuity and persistence. Between these covers are puzzles in geometry, arithmetic, and algebra (...
By Jerry Butters, Jim Henle
May 18, 2023
The Baseball Mysteries: Challenging Puzzles for Logical Detectives is a book of baseball puzzles, logical baseball puzzles. To jump in, all you need is logic and a casual fan’s knowledge of the game. The puzzles are solved by reasoning from the rules of the game and a few facts. The logic in the ...