Puzzles and Paradoxes: The Art of Thinking for Curious Minds

Tues., April 7-21, 1-3 p.m.

Time: 1-3 p.m.

Location: In person: Arcata

Cost: $50

With Stuart Moskowitz, Metagrobologist

Can you cut up nine $100 bills and rearrange the pieces to make ten $100 bills? Did you know most mechanical puzzles (those with moving parts) are not jigsaw puzzles? Jigsaw puzzles are put together. Other puzzles are taken apart, or unlocked, or untangled, or unscrambled. Some require physical dexterity; others require drinking from a cup filled with holes. Some require explaining something seemingly impossible (like how to make money from nothing or how 65=64).

We’ll play with and study different kinds of mechanical puzzles. We’ll explore strategies, we’ll explore their history, we’ll see how some can be solved with math you already know and others can be used to learn math. We’ll make puzzle(s) you can take home.

Most importantly, we’ll learn how puzzles help us think, strengthen problem solving skills, strengthen our brains, and ward off mental deterioration. By course’s end, you will become a metagrobologist (one who studies puzzles)!

Class #: 24037

Registration opens for OLLI members on Feb. 3. Non-members may register starting Feb. 9.

Stuart Moskowitz

Stuart Moskowitz retired from the Humboldt State University math department in 2018 after teaching 23 years. 

He primarily taught the course Math for Teachers, but his favorite was History and Culture of Mathematics. In both of these courses he frequently used puzzles, because many puzzles can be solved with math while other puzzles can be used to explain math. Additionally, he has studied the history of puzzles, with an emphasis on puzzles created and studied by Lewis Carroll. 

Off campus, he taught workshops for teachers, with topics split between puzzles in the classroom and appropriate uses of calculators in the classroom. 

Now retired, when not gardening or bringing puzzles to his grandchildren (and their parents), he's solving puzzles, adding to his puzzle collection, and traveling to puzzle parties. So he's a metagrobologist -- metagrobology is the pursuit and study of puzzles.