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The Coconut Problem
Martin Gardner’s Favorite Math Puzzle
Martin Gardner was a legend in the field of recreational mathematics. He wrote the “Mathematical Games” for Scientific American for over 25 years, writing nearly 300 articles. These writings included a variety of puzzles and fun nuggets of math. He also wrote numerous essays about pseudoscience and magic. I have read a lot of his work and see him as one of the main inspirations for my own writings. His goal was to make mathematics both fun and accessible for a general audience.
“I just play all the time and am fortunate enough to get paid for it.”
– Martin Gardner
Having written extensively for so long, we can only imagine how many fascinating ideas he had in his mind. His work exposed him to thousands of fun mathematical concepts. Gardner’s son, Jim, once asked him what his favorite puzzle was. He immediately answered, “The monkey and the coconuts.”
Gardner is referring to a very old mathematical puzzle. It was first described in the math book, Ganita-sara-sangraha, by the Indian mathematician Mahāvīra around 850 CE. Various sources republished it over the centuries that…
