WSJ - Gathering for Gardner

Posted April 4th, 2010 by admin

Homage to the iconic author of Scientific American's "Mathematical Games" column

Last Saturday afternoon, on a Japanese-landscaped hillside at the outskirts of Atlanta, several clusters of people were constructing mathematically inspired sculptures of metal, bamboo and balloons. Nearby, a magician showed a mathematician how to "throw" a knot. Others had their photographs taken in an optical illusion they had built, an "impossible box" that from one perspective made people look simultaneously behind and inside it. Around a goldfish pond, groups did puzzles, origami, juggling and card tricks. A magician, a philosopher and a software engineer argued about Wittgenstein. Read more…

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