Sylvia Nasar und David Gruber schreiben im The New Yorker über die Vermutung von Poincare und Grigory Perelman:
Grigory Perelman did not plan to become a mathematician. “There was never a decision point,” he said when we met. We were outside the apartment building where he lives, in Kupchino, a neighborhood of drab high-rises. Perelman’s father, who was an electrical engineer, encouraged his interest in math. “He gave me logical and other math problems to think about,” Perelman said. “He got a lot of books for me to read.”
Hier ist das Titelblatt des Buchs Unterhaltsame Algebra aus dem Jahre 1967, geschrieben von Perelmans Vater:

[Korrektur 7.9.06]: Perelman hat zwar Perelmans Buch Unterhaltsame Algebra gekannt, aber der Autor war mitnichten sein Vater (siehe Kommentare).

SUDOKU - a puzzle that boasts "No math required!"

Ergebnisse eines gemeinsamen Projekts von Kulturwissenschaftlern und Mathematikern zu den ungleichen Geschwistern.

The philosopher Bernard Suits defines a sport as a game that meets the following four criteria: "(1) that the game be a game of skill; (2) that the skill be physical; (3) that the game have a wide following; and (4) that the following achieve a certain level of stability."

The first condition excludes Russian roulette; the second eliminates math, chess, spelling, and bridge; the third and fourth conditions, alas, rule out urinating for distance. Suits' definition is compelling, but difficulties hide not far below the surface.
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