Celebration of Mind Event at the MAA Carriage House

Tuesday, November 1
6:00 - 7:30pm

MAA Carriage House
1781 Church St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

About Celebration of Mind

The Celebration of Mind uses puzzles, games, and magic to delight, instruct, and bring people together in a spirit of fun, both at annual gatherings and as a year-round repository of resources. As Martin Gardner said, you can learn more when you’re in a state of entrancement, and that’s our guiding principle. On and around October 21 every year, Celebration of Mind events all over the world share the legacy and many interests of this prolific, accessible American writer, who introduced general audiences to many fascinating topics in mathematics and science over a 50-year period . In the process we continue to create and collect resources that inspire new generations to explore a wide range of intellectual pursuits, and their intersections.

Algorithmic Puzzles and Martin Gardner

Dana Richards
George Mason University

The vast majority of mathematical puzzles ask for the existence of a solution. It is merely an exercise when the method is known and it is more of a puzzle when the method is not clear. An algorithmic puzzle takes this further by only asking for the method itself or a property of the method. It is in this sense that much of computer science is puzzle solving. We discuss the theory behind this in the context of material taken from Martin Gardner’s Scientific American column. The answer to the following puzzle will be given:

There are five pirates dividing up 100 gold coins. Pirates are strictly ordered by seniority, are very logical, and wish to live. The rule pirates use to divide gold is: (1) the most senior pirate suggests a division, (2) all pirates vote on it, (3) if at least half vote for it then it is done, otherwise the senior pirate is killed and the process starts over. What happens?

About Dana Richards
Dana Richards is an associate professor of Computer Science at George Mason University. His research is on theoretical and algorithmic topics. He has been a friend of Martin Gardner for nearly four decades and has edited Gardner’s book, The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems.

Hands on Puzzles!

After the lecture by Dana Richards, guests will be invited to break into smaller groups in order to engage in some hands-on puzzles provided by Bill Ritchie of ThinkFun.

About Bill Ritchie
Bill Ritchie is president and co-founder of ThinkFun, for over 30 years the world’s leading maker of logic puzzles and mind challenging games. He is responsible for the company’s strategic direction and new product development. A lifelong entrepreneur, Bill was the founding president of the World Entrepreneurs’ Organization and is the first recipient of the Sam Loyd Award, presented by the American Game and Puzzle Collectors for outstanding entrepreneurial promotion of mechanical puzzles. His personal passion is using games to teach thinking skills and improve reasoning abilities.