"The P-NP problem is the most important open problem in computer science, if not all of mathematics. The Golden Ticket provides a nontechnical introduction to P-NP, its rich history, and its algorithmic implications for everything we do with computers and beyond. In this informative and entertaining book, Lance Fortnow traces how the problem arose during the Cold War on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and gives examples of the problem from a variety...

"Do you know where you should always move first in Tic Tac Toe? Understand the betting cube in backgammon? Want to know the best property in Monopoly? Did you know that the African game Mancala might have led one of its players to make an early approximation of the number pi? Or that the nigh-magical Golden Ratio can help you win at Rock Paper Scissors? Around the World in Eighty Games is a gleeful exploration of games and math, spanning centuries...

"Only requiring high school algebra, the text offers flexibility in choosing what material to cover in a basic mathematics course. It covers permutations in the two-deck matching game so derangements can be counted, introduces graphs to find matches when looking at extensions of the five-card trick, and studies lexicographic orderings and ideas of encoding for card tricks. The text also explores linear equations and weighted equations in the section...

A group of college students used its math skills to win millions and life in the fast lane seemed like a sure bet. Slip back to the '80s and '90s, when a group of overachieving M.I.T. students morphed into high-rolling, big-stakes gamblers. Backed by anonymous investors, they checked into hotels under assumed names and, pretending not to know each other, communicated with secret gestures and code words inside the casinos. Betting $50,000 a hand, the...