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

Antonick has a BS in Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.[3]

Numberplay

From December 2009 to October 2016 Antonick wrote the puzzle themed "Numberplay" column for The New York Times.[4] 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.[5] He often wrote about Gardner and considered him to be the leading popularizer of recreational mathematics.[6][7] Conferences called Gathering 4 Gardner are held every two years to celebrate Gardner's legacy, and Antonick has twice spoken at these events.[8][9] He also supports the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival.[10]

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,[11] or simply to report a breakthrough in mathematics or game theory.[12]

"Numberplay" columns led to five sequences originated by Antonick[13] being listed in the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)[14]

English Channel Swim

On August 8, 1988, Antonick swam the English Channel, starting from Dover, England, and finishing in France 8 hours and 46 minutes later. [15]

References

  1. ↑ "The Neuroscience of Curiosity by Gary Antonick". Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  2. 1 2 About numberplay, the puzzle suite for math lovers of all ages by Gary Antonick, The New York Times, April 8, 2013
  3. ↑ Gary Antonick Stanford University Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ Martin Gardner’s Impromptu By Gary Antonick, New York Times, November 30, 2015
  6. ↑ 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
  7. ↑ Martin Gardner Hated Doing Puzzles, Says Diaconis Mathematical Association of America, October 15, 2014
  8. ↑ The Neuroscience of Curiosity video by Gary Antonick, G4G Celebration published on Oct 22, 2014
  9. ↑ Projectile on an Incline-No Calculation video by Gary Antonick, G4G Celebration, Published on Jul 19, 2018
  10. ↑ Friends of JRMF
  11. ↑ The Improbable Life of Paul Erdős in Numberplay The New York Times, March 25, 2013
  12. ↑ Google Artificial Intelligence Beats Expert at Go Game by Gary Antonick, February 1, 2016
  13. ↑ OEIS sequence numbers A227050, A051732, A247653, A247654, and A240567
  14. ↑ Sequences originated by Gary Antonick On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences
  15. ↑ "Photograph of Gary Antonick U. S. A." Channel Swimming Dover. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
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