Natural Science 0112 - Puzzles and Paradoxes

Fall
2013
1
4.00
David Kelly

01:00PM-02:20PM M,W,F

Hampshire College
312204
Cole Science Center 333
dckNS@hampshire.edu
It has been argued that puzzling is as intrinsic to human nature as humor, language, music, and mathematics. Zeno's paradoxes of motion and the liar and heap paradoxes ("This sentence is false," "Does one grain of sand change a non-heap into a heap?) have challenged thinkers for centuries; and other paradoxes have forced changes in philosophy, scientific thinking, logic, and mathematics. We'll read, write, and talk about the Riddle of the Sphinx, the Minotaur's Maze, the Rhind papyrus, Pythagorean mysticism, Archimedes' wheel, Fibonacci's rabbits, Durer's magic square, Konigsberg's bridges, Lewis Carroll, Sam Loyd, E.H. Dudeney, Mvbius's band, Maxwell's Demon, Schrodinger's cat, Hempel's raven, the theorems of Kurt Godel and Kenneth Arrow, the Loony Loop, Rubik's cube, the Prisoner's Dilemma and the unexpected hanging, Russell, Berrocal, Christie, Escher, Borges, Catch-22, Sudoku, Gardner, Coffin, Kim, Smullyan, and Shortz. Recreational mathematics will pervade the course, and we'll grapple with irrationality, pigeonholes, infinity, and the 4th dimension. We'll discover, create, classify, share, enjoy, and be frustrated and amazed by lots of visual illusions, mechanical, take-apart, assembly, sequential, jigsaw, word, and logic puzzles. We'll hone our problem-solving skills and consider the pedagogic and social value of puzzles. Armed with examples and experience, we might find some possible answers to "what makes a puzzle 'good'?" and "why do people puzzle?"
Physical and Biological Sciences Quantitative Skills Writing and Research Independent Work
Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.