Wearing Gauss’s Jersey

Wearing Gauss’s Jersey focuses on "Gauss problems," problems that can be very tedious and time consuming when tackled in a traditional, straightforward way but if approached in a more insightful fashion, can yield the solution much more easily and elegantly. The book shows how mathematical problem solving can be fun and how students can improve their mathematical insight, regardless of their initial level of knowledge. Illustrating the underlying unity in mathematics, it also explores how problems seemingly unrelated on the surface are actually extremely connected to each other. Each chapter starts with easy problems that demonstrate the simple insight/mathematical tools necessary to solve problems more efficiently. The text then uses these simple tools to solve more difficult problems, such as Olympiad-level problems, and develop more complex mathematical tools. The longest chapters investigate combinatorics as well as sequences and series, which are some of the most well-known Gauss problems. These topics would be very tedious to handle in a straightforward way but the book shows that there are easier ways of tackling them.

"Now, were I a very young Ramanujan-want-to-be growing up in some corner of the world, what book-if the conditions of such a scenario limited my poor library to just one book-would be a wonderful treasure trove of problems for me on which to hone my skills? In essence, this is more or less the idea and purpose of Hathout's book if I understand him correctly. He presents the reader with statements of and solutions to 66 Gauss problems selected from discrete mathematics, combinatorics, elementary analysis, and geometry." -Andrew James Simoson, Mathematical Reviews, October 2013 " ... a vital addition to any mathematician's reference and teaching idea collection, highly recommended." -Midwest Book Review "The book is perhaps best enjoyed in small doses; while the mathematics is insightful and usually quite interesting, there is a lot to process. The payoff is well-worth the effort, even if that effort is expended over time; everyone will likely come away with some new "aha!" insights. -Mark Bollman, MAA Reviews

Hathout, Dean