For todays magic show:
A century ago,
Martin Gardner was born in Oklahoma.
He philosophized for his diploma.
He wrote on Hex and Tic-Tac-Toe.
The Icosian game and polyomino.
Flexagons from paper trim,
Samuel Loyd, the game of Nim. .....
The rest of my poem and the many links are at our blog Martin Gardners 100th Birthday. Almost all of these links go to some sort of code. This poem could have been much longer.
For years, I've defined "recreational math" as "math that can be described in one minute". It would be nice if that could be "math that can be coded in one minute." Nathaniel Hawthorne once said "Easy reading is damn hard writing." Similarly, a program that brilliantly illustrates something is often very difficult to put together.
What are your thoughts on recreational math? Please give us your links, code, or anecdotes.
