Recreational mathematicians

Maurice Kraitchik

Maurice Borisovich Kraitchik (21 April 1882 – 19 August 1957) was a Belgian mathematician and populariser. His main interests were the theory of numbers and recreational mathematics. He was born to a Jewish family in Minsk. He wrote several books on number theory during 1922–1930 and after the war, and from 1931 to 1939 edited Sphinx, a periodical devoted to recreational mathematics. During World War II, he emigrated to the United States, where he taught a course at the New School for Social Research in New York City on the general topic of "mathematical recreations." Kraïtchik was agrégé of the Free University of Brussels, engineer at the Société Financière de Transports et d'Entreprises Industrielles (Sofina), and director of the . He died in Brussels. Kraïtchik is famous for having inspired the two envelopes problem in 1953, with the following puzzle in La mathématique des jeux: Two people, equally rich, meet to compare the contents of their wallets. Each is ignorant of the contents of the two wallets. The game is as follows: whoever has the least money receives the contents of the wallet of the other (in the case where the amounts are equal, nothing happens). One of the two men can reason: "Suppose that I have the amount A in my wallet. That's the maximum that I could lose. If I win (probability 0.5), the amount that I'll have in my possession at the end of the game will be more than 2A. Therefore the game is favourable to me." The other man can reason in exactly the same way. In fact, by symmetry, the game is fair. Where is the mistake in the reasoning of each man? Among his publications were the following: * Théorie des Nombres, Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1922 * Recherches sur la théorie des nombres, Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1924 * La mathématique des jeux ou Récréations mathématiques, Paris: Vuibert, 1930, 566 pages * Mathematical Recreations, New York: W. W. Norton, 1942 and London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1943, 328 pages (revised edition New York: Dover, 1953) * Alignment Charts, New York: Van Nostrand, 1944 (Wikipedia).

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Interview at Cirm: Olga Paris-Romaskevich

Interview at Cirm: Olga Paris-Romaskevich is a mathematician specializing in dynamic systems. She is interested in mathematical billiards and integrable systems - mathematical systems that come from physics. She is also very interested in popularizing fundamental research to the general pu

From playlist English interviews - Interviews en anglais

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Alexander Polyakov - Out of equilibrium

Alexander Polyakov (Princeton Univ.) Out of equilibrium

From playlist Conférence à la mémoire de Vadim Knizhnik

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Maxim Kontsevich, Equations for stability­

Maxim Kontsevich, IHÉS, France Equations for stability­

From playlist Conférence en l'honneur de Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

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Konstantin Mischaikow interviewed by Tomas Gedeon (October 26, 2022)

Konstantin Mischaikow interviewed by Tomas Gedeon (October 26, 2022) For more on the interview series, along with the advertisement posters, please see https://www.aatrn.net/interviews

From playlist AATRN Interviews

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Sergiu Klainerman - Are Black Holes Real? A Mathematics Perspective

Talk organized by Friends of IHES and IHES on April 22, 2021. Sergiu Klainerman is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University. He is a Partial Differential Equations analyst with a strong interest in General Relativity. His research deals with the mathematical the

From playlist Évenements grand public

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Ernst Kantorowicz - Robert Lerner

Public Lecture Topic: Ernst Kantorowicz Speaker: Robert Lerner Date: February 28, 2017 For more video, visit http://video.ias.edu

From playlist Public Lectures

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14. Guest Speaker Maurice "Hank" Greenberg

Financial Markets (2011) (ECON 252) This is a guest lecture by Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former Chief Executive Officer at American International Group. Mr. Greenberg starts his lecture with reflections on his time in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War as well as on his

From playlist Financial Markets (2011) with Robert Shiller

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16. The Great War, Grief, and Memory (Guest Lecture by Bruno Cabanes)

France Since 1871 (HIST 276) The human cost of World War I cannot be understood only in terms of demographics. To better understand the consequences of the war upon both soldiers and civilians it is necessary to consider mourning in its private, as well as its public dimensions. Indeed,

From playlist France Since 1871 with John Merriman

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Explained: Starlite

The intriguing story and mystery behind Starlite and it's creator, Maurice Ward. Sorry this took a while, I took time making sure it was my best yet. Maurice Interview:- http://www.stevenrinehart.com/uploads/MauriceWard-Starlite.mp3 Starlite YouTube channel:- https://www.youtube.com/user

From playlist Explained: The Series (2015 - 2017)

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INTERVIEW AT CIRM: PETER SARNAK

Peter Sarnak is a South African-born mathematician with dual South-African and American nationalities. He has been Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University since 2002, succeeding Andrew Wiles, and is an editor of the Annals of Mathematics. He is known for his work in

From playlist Jean-Morlet Chair's guests - Interviews

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Behind Our Favorite Children's Books, a Woman Who Championed Imagination | Big Think

Behind Our Favorite Children's Books, a Woman Who Championed Imagination Watch the newest video from Big Think: https://bigth.ink/NewVideo Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- T

From playlist 7 Days of Genius 2016 | 92Y & Big Think

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SHM - 20/03/15 - Maurice d’Ocagne (1862-1938) - Table ronde

Table ronde, avec la participation, outre des conférenciers, de David Aubin (IMJ, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie), Christian Gilain (IMJ, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie), Norbert Verdier (GHDSO, Université Paris-Sud)

From playlist Séminaire d'Histoire des Mathématiques

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Wiener Philharmoniker - Maurice Ravel - Bolero - Regente Gustavo Dudamel (HD)

Wiener Philharmoniker - Maurice Ravel - Bolero - Regente Gustavo Dudamel (HD) At the closing concert of the Lucerne Festival 2010, the Wiener Philharmoniker performed Maurice Ravel's probably most famous piece of music under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel: Boléro. The concert was broadcas

From playlist Classical

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Radioactivity: Etymology/History and Physics [CC]

Marie Curie named Polonium "radio-active" in 1898, but why and why did anyone listen to a shy Polish immigrant who was also (shock) a woman? I use primary sources to describe why she discovered so much and why she was so influential. Ready? Let's go! My Patreon Page: https://www.patreon

From playlist Early History of Quantum Mechanics

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Antisemitism in Argentina: Historical Experience, Public Debate, and Changing Meanings

On December 1, 2021, the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism hosted a webinar with Emmanuel Kahan, Professor at the National University of La Plata, Argentina, on "Antisemitism in Argentina:  Historical Experience, Public Debate, and Changing Meanings."  In a 30-minute presentation,

From playlist Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism Lecture Series

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Introduction to the Methods of Real Analysis by Maurice Sion #shorts

Introduction to the Methods of Real Analysis by Maurice Sion #shorts Book Review #shorts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO1y6V1SXjjPqMhU21NyGnwVnlF0UIheP Full Book Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO1y6V1SXjjM-1azbCNYq2-A1_7KaioNr If you enjoyed this video please

From playlist Book Reviews #shorts

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Moshe Kamensky 2/21/14 Part 1

Title: Picard-Vessiot Structures

From playlist Spring 2014

Related pages

Number theory | Two envelopes problem | Recreational mathematics