Lady of the lake. Great hall window -- Blessed birthday banquet -- Tinkering toy trouble -- Glorious gift wrappings -- Perfect cake combinations -- Round table tiles -- Lancelot's labyrinth labor -- Stonehenge tapestries -- Mystic mountain madness -- Camelot carnival celebration -- Row boat distribution -- Holy grail vault -- Starstone shattering -- Knights square formation -- Thirty-three tree tomb -- Lady of the lake.
Summary:
"This is a graphically bold, story-driven book, accessible to readers with a middle-school math background, that engagingly introduces readers to 16 unsolved mathematical puzzles. There are two main (fictional) characters in the book: "Mage" Maryam (named in honor of the late Maryam Mirzakhani, the only woman Fields Medalist), a young female mathematician who discovers that she is a descendant of the other main character, Merlin (of the Arthurian fables). Before she dies, Maryam's grandmother hands her Merlin's lost math journal containing problems he was summoned by Camelot to solve but failed to do so. Maryam briefly introduces the 16 entries from Merlin's journal (and the corresponding math topic), then Merlin describes the problem (accompanied by beautiful illustrations), then Maryam follows up with a deeper explanation of the math, the history of the puzzle, and how close mathematicians have come to solving it"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.