Biography:Gary Antonick

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Short description: American journalist and recreational mathematician

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] In 2019, he taught a course at Stanford University, titled Math in the Wild: Using Mathematical Thinking to Solve Messy Real-World Problems, alongside Keith Devlin.[4]

Numberplay

From December 2009 to October 2016 Antonick wrote the puzzle themed "Numberplay" column for The New York Times.[5] 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.[6] He often wrote about Gardner and considered him to be the leading popularizer of recreational mathematics.[7][8] Conferences called Gathering 4 Gardner are held every two years to celebrate Gardner's legacy, and Antonick has twice spoken at these events.[9][10] He also supports the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival.[11]

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,[12] or simply to report a breakthrough in mathematics or game theory.[13]

"Numberplay" columns led to five sequences originated by Antonick[14] being listed in the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)[15]

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. [16]

References

  1. ↑ "The Neuroscience of Curiosity by Gary Antonick". 22 October 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLCWx7Dr2gg. Retrieved 22 May 2020. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 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. ↑ Gary Antonick: MBA, Stanford University & Harvard University
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ Martin Gardner’s Impromptu By Gary Antonick, New York Times, November 30, 2015
  7. ↑ 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
  8. ↑ Martin Gardner Hated Doing Puzzles, Says Diaconis Mathematical Association of America, October 15, 2014
  9. ↑ The Neuroscience of Curiosity video by Gary Antonick, G4G Celebration published on Oct 22, 2014
  10. ↑ Projectile on an Incline-No Calculation video by Gary Antonick, G4G Celebration, Published on Jul 19, 2018
  11. ↑ "Friends of JRMF". https://www.jrmf.org/support-jrmf/sponsors-and-partners/. 
  12. ↑ The Improbable Life of Paul Erdős in Numberplay The New York Times, March 25, 2013
  13. ↑ Google Artificial Intelligence Beats Expert at Go Game by Gary Antonick, February 1, 2016
  14. ↑ OEIS sequence numbers A227050, A051732, A247653, A247654, and A240567
  15. ↑ Sequences originated by Gary Antonick On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences
  16. ↑ "Photograph of Gary Antonick U. S. A.". https://www.channelswimmingdover.org.uk/content/photo/photograph-of-gary-antonick-u-s-a.