Professor Jason Rosenhouse presents his favorite brain teasers and logic puzzles. Each lesson starts with a relatively simple puzzle that illustrates a mathematical idea or problem-solving strategy. From there, you progress to more challenging problems that will provide hours of amusement. Puzzles include the Bridges of K≈nigsberg, the Monty Hall problem, the Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever," and many more."
Mathematical Brain Teasers and Logic Puzzles
An award-winning author, mathematician, and puzzle enthusiast shows you how to master tricky brain teasers, solve challenging riddles, and increase your chances of winning games.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
gem1 from
Excellent presentation.
I enjoyed this course. I particularly liked the pauses for viewer participation.
Date published: 2023-12-11
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Adel Chehade from
Very interesting content
Met my expectations. The teacher masters the domain and makes it very interesting. All topics are exciting.
Date published: 2022-12-25
Rated 4 out of
5
by
you may guess what it is from
Math Brain Teasers & Logic Puzzles
easy to follow. liked the "pauses" to allow time to try to figure out the solutions
Date published: 2022-12-13
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Aussie Mike from
A Good Exercise in Logical Thinking
This course covers an interesting set of processes in logical thinking and provides a good opportunity to stretch the grey cells. Well delivered by the presenter who gives a clear approach to the problems and gives the student plenty of opportunity to solve them.
Date published: 2022-08-18
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Tom12 from
I really enjoyed this course
This course explains the puzzles presented in a clear and concise way with just a touch of math as necessary. I've always loved puzzles and brain teasers, and solving them, or at least some of them, is a skill that I would recommend to everyone. This course is a great way to get started or to refresh your knowledge.
Date published: 2022-05-04
Rated 5 out of
5
by
freddy8203 from
Exciting content
I purchased this product as a gift for a math major who may be working on an advanced degree.
Date published: 2022-03-28
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Eagle1234 from
Very Challenging but Interesting
As a math personI was interested in this course. My math ability aligns mostly with algebra, differential equations, etc. A lot of the course content was on puzzles and “brain teasers” which I felt ambivalent about. However, I totally loved the last two two lessons which made the Course totally worth watching!
Date published: 2021-12-27
Rated 1 out of
5
by
les10 from
Slow, plodding, and dull
I bought this course based on the title and lecture list. That description made it sound interesting but it failed to deliver. The lecturer is undoubtedly a qualified mathematician who is clearly interested in the topic but he fails to present the material in a manner which stimulates that interest in the listener. In short, it doesn't function as a good logic or math learning opportunity let alone a combination of the two. I have taken several of the company's other math offerings and have found them all be very informative, unfortunately this course did not live up to their level of quality. I am very happy that I bought it on sale and did not pay full price for it!
Date published: 2021-12-26
Overview
About
Jason Rosenhouse is a Professor of Pure Mathematics at James Madison University. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from Dartmouth College. He is the author or editor of several books on topics ranging from recreational mathematics to evolutionary biology, and he has published more than a dozen research papers on number theory and combinatorics. His books include Taking Sudoku Seriously: The Math behind the World’s Most Popular Pencil Puzzle, which received the 2012 PROSE Award for Popular Science and Popular Mathematics from the Association of American Publishers, and he is the editor of Mathematics Magazine, published by the Mathematical Association of America.
Trailer
01: Why We Love Puzzles
Why do we create puzzles simply for the pleasure of solving them? After proposing a few theories, Professor Rosenhouse notes that mathematicians love puzzles, especially those that lead to deep mathematical insights. Get warmed up for the course with six brain teasers involving hourglasses, a restaurant order, a biased coin, the numbers on a clock face, and two chessboard scenarios.
25 min
02: Thinking outside the Box
Test your wits against the puzzle that likely inspired the famous expression “thinking outside the box.” Then apply this strategy to a variety of brain teasers, involving matchsticks, cards, light switches, and other objects in interesting and puzzling situations. Also ponder the legendary physics exam question: How can you find the height of a building by using a barometer?
24 min
03: You Don’t Need No Algebra!
First, find a shortcut solution to a classic word problem in algebra. This introduces the lesson’s theme: forget your algebra and use cleverness to solve problems without x’s and y’s. Along the way, you’ll learn that sometimes having too much information can make a problem harder. Also find out why transcontinental flights take longer in one direction than the other—not counting wind effects.
25 min
04: Knights, Knaves, and Normals
Now turn to logic puzzles, trying to distinguish between knights who only make true statements, and knaves who only tell falsehoods. Start with simple cases. Then introduce tricky “if–then” statements. Next, what if the knight or knave is insane and thus has false beliefs? This makes things trickier! Finally, add a third category: normal people who are sometimes truthful, sometimes not.
26 min
05: Lewis Carroll’s Game
Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, wrote a book of logic puzzles for children. Take a crack at some of these fun exercises, which Carroll designed to illustrate the principles of Aristotelian logic. See what you can conclude from such categorical statements as “all wasps are unfriendly, and all puppies are friendly.” Carroll’s syllogisms get progressively more elaborate.
27 min
06: Question Puzzles and Coercive Logic
Return to the Island of Knights and Knaves from Lesson 4 to consider puzzles where asking the right questions is the point of the problem. Work your way up to the famous “heaven or hell” puzzle. Then close with an exercise in coercive logic, devised by noted mathematician and puzzle master Raymond Smullyan. Easy riches hinge on a very simple bargain that sounds too good to be true. Do you accept?
23 min
07: The Saga of the Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever
Learn about biconditional statements of the form, “p if and only if q.” Then tackle the notorious “Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever,” devised by philosopher George Boolos. You have three yes/no questions to identify three gods: the god who always answers truthfully, the god who always lies, and the god who randomly mixes true and false answers. One big problem: They answer in their own language, which you don’t speak.
26 min
08: The Muddy Children Puzzle
Finish your study of logic with puzzles where you must draw conclusions based on what other people can infer from information they are given. Your first example is the “muddy children” puzzle, in which children with muddy faces must conclude with logical certainty—without looking in a mirror, feeling their faces, or being told—that they have muddy faces. Such puzzles are unusually subtle.
26 min
09: The Perils of Probability
Ponder probability, starting with the chances of getting an ace of spades when you turn over the top cards on two well-shuffled decks. In probability, it’s a safe bet that your first instinct is wrong! Investigate other phenomena, including the chances that your suitcase is lost when 98 percent of the luggage has arrived at baggage claim, but yours has not. Your odds may be better than you think.
26 min
10: A New Look at the Monty Hall Problem
Study the famous Monty Hall problem from the game show Let’s Make a Deal. Your quandary: A new car is hidden behind one of three doors; after making your choice, your door is left shut and one of the doors without the car is opened. Do you care to switch to the other closed door? Find out why one expert says, “No other statistical puzzle comes so close to fooling all the people all the time.”
28 min
11: Arithmetic Amusements
Discover the fun of arithmetic and other simple mathematics. Begin with the game Krypto, in which your goal is to make a given number with arithmetical operations on five other numbers. Then try out the “four fours” puzzle. Next, see how perfect squares and perfect triangles reveal algebra and geometry working together. Finally, reason out why a negative number multiplied by itself a is a positive number.
29 min
12: Algorithmic Puzzles
Take up algorithmic puzzles, which require a carefully thought-out procedure—or algorithm—to solve. Algorithms have notable applications in computer science, but they also come in handy for dividing pirate gold, transporting hungry animals to an island, and solving life-or-death riddles posed by movie villains. At least, that’s the entertaining approach you take in this final lesson.
24 min
