The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix
Martin Gardner
What do you say when someone tells you that 1960 had to be an unusual year because 1,960 can
be expressed as the sum of two squares - 142 and 422 - and both 14 and 42 are multiples of the
mystic number 7. Do you call him mad or do you call him a genius? Martin Gardner introduces
you to this extraordinary man, Dr. Irving Joshua Matrix, who claims to be a reincarnation of
Pythagoras. Believed by many to be the greatest numerologist who ever lived, Dr. Matrix was
completely unknown to the scientific community until Gardner wrote about him in Scientific
American in 1960. That first report and the subsequent ones that appeared tracing his activities
are collected here in their entirety.
"Numbers, you know, have a mysterious life of their own," claims Dr. Matrix. This will become
clearer to you as you get to know Dr. Matrix. As you delve into his secret world you will master
some significant combinatorial mathematics and number theory. Dr. Matrix challenges us with
many remarkable puzzles, all of which are clearly answered in the back of the book, together with
commentary and references by Gardner to enlighten the uninitiated.
Martin Gardner originated the "Mathematical Games" column of Scientific American. He is the
author of many books on science and math including Science: Good, Bad and Bogus.
326 pages (Illustrated) lSBN 0-87975-282-3 Paper