Polyominoes: Puzzles, Patterns, Problems, and Packings - Revised and Expanded Second Edition

by Solomon W. Golomb

Book Overview

Inspiring popular video games like Tetris while contributing to the study of combinatorial geometry and tiling theory, polyominoes have continued to spark interest ever since their inventor, Solomon Golomb, introduced them to puzzle enthusiasts several decades ago. In this fully revised and expanded edition of his landmark book, the author takes a new generation of readers on a mathematical journey into the world of the deceptively simple polyomino...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691024448
• ISBN13: 9780691024448
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 198 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.2" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Ultimate book on polyominoes by the inventor.

Polyominoes is an entire sub-domain of geometrical puzzles andthis book is the epitomie of the subject. Packed full ofresults and puzzles old and new. An extensive bibliographyis provided. Another one for the bookshelf of all mathematical puzzlers.

Even better the second time through

One of the most eagerly anticipated second editions in the history of mathematics, the wait was worth it. Literally defining a whole new area of recreational mathematics, the problems and proof techniques introduced in the first edition have kept an entire generation of mathematical thinkers busy. Although easily understood, some of the problems have defied solution for decades after the publication of the first edition in 1965. It now appears that all of the problems listed as unsolved in the first edition have been resolved, the last succumbing in 1993. As befits the enormous interest in these problems, three people announced solutions simultaneously, this reviewer being one of them. While there is not a lot of material that was not part of the first book, it still stirs the mathematical heart. For these problems and proofs are timeless things of beauty. Even a child can understand how to put polyominoes together - my two-year-old daughter is an existence proof of that. And the proofs are sometimes so clever in their simplicity that one is tempted to use the phrase attributed to Paul Erdos, "That one is from God's little book." Who among us fails to appreciate some of the proofs of placing pentominoes on a checkerboard that relies on nothing more than the number of spaces colored black versus red. Even the proofs of the problems that took decades to resolve can be understood by those with only a rudimentary knowledge of mathematics. Sometimes, if you can count to 60, you can understand the proof. Truly a jewel in the crown of mathematical royalty, this book deserves to be a runaway bestseller. Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission