The Mathematics of Various Entertaining Subjects A Review

puzzles and problems meant to engage the attention of research mathematicians move them along to the harder stuff—complex analysis, algebraic geometry, interuniversal Teichmüller theory. As a recruiting tool this strategy has been highly successful. Many a mathematician credits Martin Gardner and his “Mathematical Games” column for inspiring a lifetime of mathematical inquiry. The Mathematics of Various Entertaining Subjects (MOVES) is recreational math for a different audience. The puzzles and problems may be the same, but in this presentation they are meant to engage the attention of research mathematicians. But that’s certainly not to say there’s no fun here. The volume consists of selected papers from a symposium of the same name held in 2013 at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York. Of course recreational problems have been inspiring “real” math for a long time. Jennifer Beineke and Jason