Brain teasers are fun and popular activities for all ages and all levels of reasoning skill. For example, here’s a good one: A man goes into a store to buy a certain item. The clerk tells him the item costs 25¢ each. The man replies, “Great, I’ll take 100.” The clerk charges him 75¢. What was the man buying? Here, the solution involves thinking outside the box, in which you approach the problem from a new perspective, often by paying close attention to ambiguity in how the problem is stated. Thinking outside the box is a great strategy for many situations in life.
In Mathematical Brain Teasers and Logic Puzzles, Dr. Jason Rosenhouse introduces you to a selection of his all-time favorite mind-benders. Practically all of his 12 half-hour lessons start with a relatively simple problem that demonstrates a mathematical idea or problem-solving strategy. From there, you head deeper into the weeds, venturing into territory that will give you hours of challenging cogitation.