Tracking the automatic ant and other mathematical explorations. A collection of mathematical entertainments columns from the Mathematical Intelligencer
This is a collection of the author's mathematical entertainment columns that appeared in \textit{The Mathematical Intelligencer} between 1991 and 1996. Usually such collections of predominantly unrelated columns contain something for everyone, but nobody is interested in all or most of the collection. This collection was the first exception from this rule for me. I enjoyed reading \textit{all} of it, from sequences to tiling, from combinatorial games to the discourse on the meaning of mathematical results, to name a few of the topics. In fact I put the book aside with a sense that the seemingly unrelated essays came together in one whole, this book. The author's taste and wisdom unite these chapters in one fine work. I found in it things I knew and things I did not, but above all I learned a lot about David Gale, for as any true work of art this book is a product of self-expression. I agree with the publisher's statement on the dust jacket that ``Whatever your tastes in mathematics, whether you are a professional mathematician or a general reader, you will find Gale's writing both educational and entertaining. Be advised, however, that some of the deep thoughts about mathematics that are sprinkled throughout the book may leave a general reader on the sideline. And open problems posed in the book, would inspire almost everyone, but may take a lifetime -- or longer -- to solve.
- Complexity of Langton's ant
- Fully packed \(O\) \((n=1)\) model on random Eulerian triangulations
- Recognizing the repeatable configurations of time-reversible generalized Langton's ant is PSPACE-hard
- An elementary approach to the study of Somos sequences
- ReGale: some memorable results
- The Mondee Gills game
- On Somos-4 and Somos-5 sequences
- The Robot Cleans Up
- Shadow sequences of integers: from Fibonacci to Markov and back
- On periodicity of the Somos sequences modulo \(m\)
- Continued fractions for \(q\)-deformed real numbers, \(\{-1,0,1\}\)-Hankel determinants, and Somos-Gale-Robinson sequences
- The robot cleans up
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