Tasty Japanese Morsels in Recreational Mathematics

This book is a charming collection of puzzles created by Yoshiyuki Kotani, one of the founding members of the Academy of Recreational Mathematics, Japan. Kotani has selected some of his favorite puzzles from over 40 years of puzzle setting, most of which have never appeared in western literature. The distinctive culture of Japanese recreational mathematics is encapsulated in this volume from one of its leading architects. Beginning with a sampler of problems to whet the appetite, the reader is led through a three-course menu of combinatorial, arithmetic, and geometrical problems. Highlights include the Wagashi Combo, a puzzle devised during Kotani's youth, where the reader has to combine two plane figures to construct a new shape in two distinct ways. Everything is tied together with a playful narrative of a Japanese restaurant, adding fun and humor to the challenge. The book ends with a miscellany of problems that expand on the ideas from earlier chapters. Suitable for anyone with an interest in recreational mathematics, the puzzles in this book require no formal mathematical training. Novice and experienced solvers alike will delight in this original and delicious offering of Japanese puzzles.