The Puzzler's Elusion: A Tale of Fraud, Pursuit, and the Art of Logic

by Shasha, Dennis E.

• ISBN13: 9781560258315
• ISBN10: 1560258314
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-04-17
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

Genius mathematician, Dr. Dennis Shasha, here sets out his latest book-length mind-twister. Made up of many smaller segments, some of which can be solved by ten year-olds and some which are more challenging, the detective work requires no more than high school geometry and junior high school algebra. In every case, imagination trumps knowledge. The puzzles are set in a larger story of a mathematical detective named Dr. Ecco, his nephew and niece, and Professor Scarlet, the narrator. Scarlet is essentially the Watson to Dr. Ecco's Sherlock Holmes, asking the questions a reader might ask. Each puzzle is posed in a plausible if imaginary real-life setting. There are no hidden facts, no abduction here, just deductive logic and mathematical thought. Overlaying these puzzles are the ramblings of Dr Ecco's old nemesis, Benjamin Baskerhound. He seems to be on the run, but he's trying to tell Ecco his whereabouts in a way that only Ecco will understand. The evidence builds up and readers are invited to send in their solutions. The winner will receive a pre-paid trip to the home of modern mathematics, Sir Isaac Newton's Greenwich Observatory.

Author Biography

Dr. Dennis Shasha is a professor of computer science at the Courant Institute of NYU where he works with biologists on pattern discovery for microarrays, combinatorial design, and network inference; and with physicists and financial people on algorithms for time series. Other areas of interest include database tuning, tree and graph matching, and cryptographic file systems. Because he "likes to type", he has written four books of puzzles, a biography about great computer scientists, and technical books about database tuning, biological pattern recognition and time series. He also writes the puzzle columns for Scientific American and Dr. Dobb's Journal.

After graduating from Yale, Shasha worked for IBM designing circuits and microcode. He completed his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1984. He has written many books, including four involving the mathematical detective Dr. Ecco for W.H. Freeman and W.W. Norton, and a book of biographies about great computer scientists called Out of Their Minds: the lives and discoveries of 15 great computer scientists. In addition, he has co-written fifty journal papers, sixty conference papers, and seven patents.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
Contest	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
PART I: RICH GUYS
The Smuggler and the Merchant	3	(4)
The Pirates' Cantilever	7	(4)
Cornering the Market	11	(2)
Close Enough	13	(3)
Gold in the Balance	16	(3)
Perfect Zoning	19	(3)
Optimal Farming	22	(2)
Smooth As Ice	24	(3)
Patton's Traffic Intersection	27	(6)
PART II: GOVERNMENT
Escalation Dominance	33	(3)
Diamond Thieves	36	(3)
Jam Session	39	(3)
Cruise Control	42	(5)
PART III: KIDS
Kate in Paradise	47	(3)
Polish Hand Magic	50	(2)
What Color Is My Hat?	52	(2)
Dinner Shakes	54	(2)
Lotus Hopping	56	(3)
The Roads of Iguacu	59	(5)
The Cowboy's Buckets	64	(3)
Lying Socks	67	(3)
When Did the Last Train Leave?	70	(2)
Diamond Dreams	72	(2)
Papyrus Math	74	(7)
PART IV: ON FAITH
What's Wrong with Baskerhound?	81	(2)
Bodyguards for an Ancient Tyrant	83	(6)
Election Fraud in Verity	89	(4)
Treasure Arrow	93	(4)
Warriors of the Rapture	97	(3)
The Luck of the 4	100	(10)
Are There Spies?	110	(4)
Calculating the Odds	114	(9)
Fair Counts	123	(6)
SOLUTIONS
PART I: RICH GUYS
The Smuggler and the Merchant	129	(3)
The Pirates' Cantilever	132	(2)
Cornering the Market	134	(2)
Close Enough	136	(4)
Gold in the Balance	140	(3)
Perfect Zoning	143	(2)
Optimal Farming	145	(4)
Smooth As Ice	149	(2)
Patton's Traffic Intersection	151	(3)
PART II: GOVERNMENT
Escalation Dominance	154	(3)
Diamond Thieves	157	(2)
Jam Session	159	(3)
Cruise Control	162	(6)
PART III: KIDS
Polish Hand Magic	168	(1)
What Color Is My Hat?	169	(1)
Dinner Shakes	170	(1)
Lotus Hopping	171	(2)
the Roads of Iguacu	173	(2)
the Cowboy's Buckets	175	(2)
Lying Socks	177	(2)
When Did the Last Train Leave?	179	(1)
Diamond Dreams	180	(1)
Papyrus Math	181	(1)
PART IV: ON FAITH
Bodyguards for an Ancient Tyrant	182	(1)
Election Fraud in Verity	183	(1)
Treasure Arrow	184	(4)
Decryption of Letter from Rose to Ecco	186	(2)
Warriors of the Rapture	188	(2)
Decryption of Letter from Ecco to Rose and Baskerhound	188	(2)
The Luck of the 4	190	(7)
Decryption of Letter from Baskerhound to Ecco	196	(1)
Decryption of Letter from Ecco to Rose and Baskerhound	196	(1)
Are There Spies?	197	(1)
Calculating the Odds	198	(6)
Fair Counts	204