You are here

Problems from Murray Klamkin

Andy Liu and Bruce Shawyer, editors
Publisher: 
Mathematical Association of America
Publication Date: 
2009
Number of Pages: 
249
Format: 
Hardcover
Series: 
The Canadian Collection
Price: 
61.60
ISBN: 
9780883858288
Category: 
Problem Book
[Reviewed by
Allen Stenger
, on
02/25/2009
]

This is an anthology of all the problems proposed by Murray Klamkin (1921–2004) in the Canadian problem-solving journal Crux Mathematicorum, along with the Klamkin memorial problems proposed by others in a special issue of the journal. The problems and solutions are reprinted verbatim from the journal with no commentary. They are organized chronologically within each subject area, and there are indices by proposer and solver and by number, although not by subject.

The problems cover a wide variety of topics, with the required mathematical background being high school or the first two undergraduate years. There are quite a lot of geometry and trigonometry problems, and many algebraic and trigonometric inequalities, with just a little bit of calculus. The problems are all challenging, and none could be called "exercises."

This is essentially a Klamkin tribute volume, and it’s not clear who the audience for it is, other than Klamkin fans. Many problem books, such as Pólya & Szegö’s  Problems and Theorems in Analysis, are actually books of problem sequences, and by working through a sequence you learn something useful and get practice solving problems. The problem columns that appear in the math journals are very valuable, but I don’t think it’s valuable simply to anthologize them without some additional structure.


Allen Stenger is a math hobbyist, library propagandist, and retired computer programmer. He volunteers in his spare time at MathNerds.com, a math help site that fosters inquiry learning. His mathematical interests are number theory and classical analysis.

The table of contents is not available.