Gary Antonick
Gary Antonick (/ˈæntənɪk/ AN-tə-nik;[1] born February 11, 1963) is an American journalist and recreational mathematician who for many years wrote a puzzle-based column called "Numberplay" for the New York Times.[2]
Education and career
[edit]Antonick has a BS in Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.[3] In 2019, he taught a course at Stanford University, titled Math in the Wild: Using Mathematical Thinking to Solve Messy Real-World Problems, alongside Keith Devlin.[4]
Numberplay
[edit]From December 2009 to October 2016 Antonick wrote the puzzle themed "Numberplay" column for The New York Times.[5] The puzzles generally involved math or logic problems.[2] They came from many sources, and many were descended from columns by the celebrated Scientific American columnist Martin Gardner.[6] He often wrote about Gardner and considered him to be the leading popularizer of recreational mathematics.[7][8] Conferences called Gathering 4 Gardner are held every two years to celebrate Gardner's legacy, and Antonick has twice spoken at these events.[9][10] He also supports the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival.[11]
Among the many classic problems of recreational mathematics featured in "Numberplay" are The Prisoner's Dilemma, The Two Child Problem, The Monty Hall Problem, The Monkey and the Coconuts, The Two-cube Calendar, and The Zebra Puzzle. Sometimes "Numberplay" was used to celebrate other mathematicians such as Paul Erdős,[12] or simply to report a breakthrough in mathematics or game theory.[13]
"Numberplay" columns led to five sequences originated by Antonick[14] being listed in the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)[15]
English Channel Swim
[edit]On August 8, 1988, Antonick swam the English Channel, starting from Dover, England, and finishing in France 8 hours and 46 minutes later. [16]
References
[edit]- ↑ "The Neuroscience of Curiosity by Gary Antonick". YouTube. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
- 1 2 About numberplay, the puzzle suite for math lovers of all ages by Gary Antonick, The New York Times, April 8, 2013
- ↑ Gary Antonick Archived 2019-01-29 at the Wayback Machine Stanford University Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute
- ↑ Gary Antonick: MBA, Stanford University & Harvard University
- ↑ A Numberplay Farewell Gary Antonick, New York Times, October 31, 2016. Outgoing writer of The Times’s Numberplay column, shares a lesson learned from seven years of puzzle-solving.
- ↑ Martin Gardner’s Impromptu By Gary Antonick, New York Times, November 30, 2015
- ↑ Martin Gardner’s The Monkey and the Coconuts "Martin Gardner, the American science and math writer who popularized the notion of recreational mathematics." in Numberplay The New York Times:, October 7, 2013
- ↑ Martin Gardner Hated Doing Puzzles, Says Diaconis Mathematical Association of America, October 15, 2014
- ↑ The Neuroscience of Curiosity video by Gary Antonick, G4G Celebration published on Oct 22, 2014
- ↑ Projectile on an Incline-No Calculation video by Gary Antonick, G4G Celebration, Published on Jul 19, 2018
- ↑ "Friends of JRMF". Archived from the original on 2019-04-15. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
- ↑ The Improbable Life of Paul Erdős in Numberplay The New York Times, March 25, 2013
- ↑ Google Artificial Intelligence Beats Expert at Go Game by Gary Antonick, February 1, 2016
- ↑ OEIS sequence numbers A227050, A051732, A247653, A247654, and A240567
- ↑ Sequences originated by Gary Antonick On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences
- ↑ "Photograph of Gary Antonick U. S. A." Channel Swimming Dover. Retrieved 2023-06-15.