In Polya’s Footsteps: Miscellaneous Problems and Essays

Ross Honsberger9780883853009, 0-88385-300-0

Mathematics is often studied with an air of such seriousness that it doesn’t always seem to be much fun. However, it is quite amazing how many surprising results and brilliant arguments one is in a position to enjoy with just a high school background. This is a book of miscellaneous delights, presented not in an attempt to instruct but as a harvest of rewards that are due to good high school students and, of course, those more advanced – their teachers and everyone in the university mathematics community. A half dozen essays are sprinkled among some hundred problems. Many subjects are represented – combinatorics, geometry, number theory, algebra, probability. The sections may be read in any order. The book concludes with twenty-five exercises and their detailed solutions. Something to delight will be found in every section – a surprising result, an intriguing approach, a stroke of ingenuity – and the leisurely pace and generous explanations make the book a pleasure to read.