Martin Gardner's mistake

DOI10.4169/COLLEGE.MATH.J.43.1.020zbMATH Open1273.00013arXiv1102.0173OpenAlexW2963307139WikidataQ99703984 ScholiaQ99703984MaRDI QIDQ2901255FDOQ2901255

Authors: Tanya Khovanova 

Publication date: 18 July 2012

Published in: The College Mathematics Journal (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: When Martin Gardner first presented the Two-Children problem, he made a mistake in its solution. Later he corrected the mistake in another publication, but unfortunately his incorrect solution is more widely known than his correction. In fact, a Tuesday-Child variation of this problem went viral in 2010, and the same flaw keeps reappearing in solutions for that problem as well. In this article, I would like to popularize Martin Gardner's correction and conduct a detailed discussion of the new problem.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1102.0173

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Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Recreational mathematics (00A08)

Cited In (6)

• The two-child paradox: dichotomy and ambiguity
• Revisiting the Name Variant of the Two-Children Problem
• Martin Gardner (1914–2010)
• You probably won't believe it, but \(3(1+ \phi - \phi^{-1}) = 3\)!
• The \(n\)-children problem
• Fun problems in geometry and beyond

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