In Polya's Footsteps

Ross Honsberger was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1929 and attended the University of Toronto. After more than a decade of teaching mathe matics in Toronto, he took advantage of a sabbatical leave to continue his studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He joined its faculty in 1964 in the Department of Combina torics and Optimization, and has been there ever since. Honsberger has published a number of bestselling books with the Mathematical Association of America, including Episodes in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Euclidean Geometry, and From Erdos to Kiev. In Polya's Footsteps is his eighth book published in the Dolciani Mathematical Exposition Series. The study of mathematics is often undertaken with an air of such seriousness that it doesn't always seem to be much fun at the time. However, it is quite amazing how many surprising results and brilliant arguments one is in a position to enjoy with just a high school background. This is a book of miscellaneous delights, presented not in an attempt to instruct but as a harvest of rewards that are due good high school students and, of course, those more advanced-their teachers, and everyone in the university mathematics community. Admittedly, they take a little concentration, but the price is a bargain for such gems. A half dozen essays are sprinkled among some hundred problems, most of which are the easier problems that have appeared on various national and international olympiads. Many subjects are represented-combinatorics, geometry, number theory, algebra, probability. The sections may be read in any order. The book concludes with twenty-five exercises and their detailed solutions. It is hoped that something to delight will be found in every section-a surprising result, an intriguing approach, a stroke of ingenuity-and that the leisurely pace and generous explanations will make them a pleasure to read. The inspiration for many of the problems came from the Olympiad Corner of Crux Mathematicorum, published by the Canadian Mathematical Society.