The Enjoyment of Mathematics

The Enjoyment of Mathematics: Selections from Mathematics for the Amateur (German: Von Zahlen und Figuren: Proven mathematischen Denkens für Liebhaber der Mathematik) is a mathematics book written by Otto Toeplitz and Hans Rademacher aimed at laypeople and requiring only a high school level background. The focus of the book is on problems from many different fields of mathematics and on proofs by elementary methods. The book covers topics ranging from prime numbers and set theory, maxima and minima to transfinite numbers and many more. The problems in the book require more ingenuity than knowledge to be solved.

The first edition of the German original was first published in 1930, by Julius Springer, Berlin. It was translated into English by Herbert Zuckerman, based on the second edition from 1933. The English translation was published by Princeton University Press in 1957. It contains two additional chapters, added by Zuckerman.

It was translated into Russian as Числа и фигуры, and into Spanish as Números y figuras.

References

  1. ↑ Benz, Harry E. (1957). "Review of The Enjoyment of Mathematics". The Mathematics Teacher. 50 (6). National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: 454–455. ISSN 0025-5769. JSTOR 27955473. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  2. 1 2 M. S. Knebelman. "Review: Hans Rademacher und Otto Toeplitz, Von Zahlen und Figuren", Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 38 (1.P1) 15, January 1932.
  3. ↑ Newman, James R.; Rademacher, Hans; Toeplitz, Otto (1957). "Review of The Enjoyment of Mathematics, Hans Rademacher, Otto Toeplitz". Scientific American. 197 (1). Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc.: 174. doi:10.2307/24940903. ISSN 0036-8733. JSTOR 24940903. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  4. ↑ Wrinch, D. M. (1932). "Review of Von Zahlen und Figuren: Proven mathematischen Denkens für Liebhaber der Mathematik". The Mathematical Gazette. 16 (217). Mathematical Association: 63. doi:10.2307/3608155. ISSN 0025-5572. JSTOR 3608155. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  5. ↑ "Review of The Enjoyment of Mathematics". Mathematics Magazine. 30 (4). [Mathematical Association of America, Taylor & Francis, Ltd.]: 218–219. 1957. doi:10.2307/3029144. ISSN 0025-570X. JSTOR 3029144. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  6. ↑ Kellogg, O. D. (1931). "Review of Types of Mathematical Thinking. Von Zahlen und Figuren. Proben Mathematischen Denkens, für Liebhaber der Mathematik". The American Mathematical Monthly. 38 (8). [Taylor & Francis, Ltd., Mathematical Association of America]: 456–457. doi:10.2307/2301977. ISSN 0002-9890. JSTOR 2301977. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  7. ↑ Sutcliffe, Alan (1968). "Review of The Enjoyment of Mathematics: Selections from Mathematics for the Amateur". The Mathematical Gazette. 52 (381). Mathematical Association: 306–307. doi:10.2307/3614211. ISSN 0025-5572. JSTOR 3614211. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  8. ↑ Nagel, Ernest (1957). "Review of The Enjoyment of Mathematics. Selections from Mathematics for the Amateur". Science. 126 (3264). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 126. ISSN 0036-8075. JSTOR 1752928. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  9. ↑ Sutcliffe, Alan (1968). "The Enjoyment of Mathematics—Selections from Mathematics for the Amateur. By Hans Rademacher and Otto Toeplitz: Translated by H. Zuckerman. (Princeton Paperback 51.) Pp. 205. 15s. 1967. (Princeton University Press. London: Oxford University Press.)". The Mathematical Gazette. 52 (381): 306–307. doi:10.2307/3614211. ISSN 0025-5572. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  10. ↑ Goodstein, R. L. (1959). "Review of The Enjoyment of Mathematics". The Mathematical Gazette. 43 (344). Mathematical Association: 143. doi:10.2307/3610226. ISSN 0025-5572. JSTOR 3610226. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  11. ↑ Oakley, C. O. (1957). "Review of The Enjoyment of Mathematics". The American Mathematical Monthly. 64 (8). [Taylor & Francis, Ltd., Mathematical Association of America]: 603. doi:10.2307/2308857. ISSN 0002-9890. JSTOR 2308857. Retrieved 2026-11-01.
  12. ↑ Reference to the books themselves.

Further reading