Book, Mathematical Puzzles and Pastimes
Book, Mathematical Puzzles and Pastimes
Previous
Next
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- The book Mathematical Puzzles and Pastimes was obtained by Olive C. Hazlett (1890–1974) on May 27, 1965. Hazlett was one of America's leading mathematicians during the 1920s. She taught at Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Illinois, after which she moved to Peterborough, New Hampshire. This volume, as well as other puzzle books and puzzles she owned, was collected from a community of Discalced Carmelite brothers who had lived in New Hampshire and who had befriended Hazlett there.
- The puzzles and pastimes of the book were gathered and edited by Philip Haber and illustrated by Stanley Wyatt. The book was published by The Peter Pauper Press of Mount Vernon, New York, in 1957. Haber collected problems that he wrote could “be solved primarily by clear thinking, arithmetic or algebra.” The book contains 113 problems with solutions given to some of them. Haber refers to the last four problems as “famous” and gives their names as: The Impossible Division Problem, The Unit Problem, The Apple Problem, and The Problem of Problems (Archimedes’ Cattle Problem).
- Hazlett wrote “$1. for 3” on the title page of this book. There is one other book in the museum collections, The Little Riddle Book (2015.3004.02), that was also published by The Peter Pauper Press and also obtained by Hazlett on May 27, 1965. In that book she wrote “3 for $1.” Hazlett signed her name “O. C. Hazlett” on the dustcover of both books. She made other handwritten marks in Mathematical Puzzles and Pastimes, including several whose meanings are not clear.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- book
- date made
- 1957
- place made
- United States: New York, Mount Vernon
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- cloth (binding material)
- Measurements
- overall: 1.1 cm x 11.5 cm x 19.2 cm; 7/16 in x 4 17/32 in x 7 9/16 in
- ID Number
- 2015.0027.03
- accession number
- 2015.0027
- catalog number
- 2015.0027.03
- Credit Line
- Gift of Hermitage of St. Joseph
- subject
- Mathematics
- Mathematical Recreations
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Mathematical Association of America Objects
- Women Mathematicians
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
