Three puzzles from Martin Gardner (1914-2010)

[The Straight Story]

Three puzzles from Martin Gardner (1914-2010)


News of Martin Gardner's death began circulating on Saturday night. For those of you who are unfamiliar with his work, here's a taste of the kinds of puzzles he was famous for bringing to the world. Of course, he did much more: 15 years ago, I had the great honor of meeting him and his wife for a profile of him, which you can read here.

I still have the trick pen he gave me as a souvenir, one that I'll show anyone who comes by my desk. (I'll try to post a video of the pen.) It brings back fond memories of being shown his stash of magic tricks and gag gifts, his thoughtful comments on irrational beliefs, his experiences with mathematicians like Paul Erdős and the Gardners' feeding of feral kittens that came to the back deck of the house every afternoon.

Rest in peace, Martin.


1. Reversed Trousers
Each end of a 10-foot length of rope is tied securely to a man’s ankles. Without cutting or untying the rope, is it possible to remove his trousers, turn them inside out on the rope and put them back on correctly? Party guests should try to answer this confusing topological question before initiating any empirical tests.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=three-puzzles-from-martin-gardner-1-2010-05-22

[panader0]

1. Could you tie the rope to a woman's trousers too?

[Motown_Johnny]

2. 1. I would say yes

pull one leg through the other so that they turn inside out. I would assume this is possible.


(and my condolences on the loss of your friend)

[pokerfan]

10. Yeah that's what I visualized as well

I wonder if they would then be inside out but backwards.

[tabatha]

3. Did you write that or is that a cut and paste from someone's article.

Thanks for the link.

[The Straight Story]

4. From SA - I always like Martin's work (nt)

[Wilber_Stool]

5. If I'm not mistaken

he used to have a few pages in Children's Digest Magazine.

[Speck Tater]

6. So sad. I had a funny coincidence concerning Martin Gardner.

I was a faithful reader of his Scientific American column. He did an article (I don't remember exactly when) on the N-degrees of separation phenomenon, where you try to discover how many steps away your are from a certain person. I was working in a Los Angles area computer store at the time and I mentioned the article to a regular customer of mine. He had also read the article. I said to him "I wonder how many steps it would take me to reach Martin Gardner?" My customer smiled and said "I could introduce you to my Uncle Martin." On his next visit to the store he brought in documentary proof that his uncle was the Martin Gardner, and a photo of him, as a child, sitting on Martin Gardner's lap.

I don't remember the guy's name. I wish I did. All I recall is he had some connection with that magic club in Hollywood. He once brought a really old guy into the computer store named Vernon (I think) who showed us a bunch of amazing close-up magic tricks. That was a hoot.

[charlesg]

8. You could have sent Martin a note, and he would send you a handwritten reply on a postcard

within a couple or three months or so.

[Speck Tater]

9. (Headslap!) That never crossed my mind! Damn! nt

[charlesg]

7. An extraordinary man. He made fun of the Laffer curve in his Sci Am column

when the U of Chicago crowd was talking about Laffer like God