English

Enhancing logical deduction with math: the rationale behind Gardner and Carroll

History and Overview 2019-04-25 v1

Abstract

Math is widely considered as a powerful tool and its strong appeal depends on the high level of abstraction it allows in modelling a huge number of heterogeneous phenomena and problems, spanning from the static of buildings to the flight of swarms. As further proof, Gardner's and Carroll's problems have been intensively employed in a number of selection methods and job interviews. Despite the mathematical background, these problems are based on, several solutions and explanations are given in a trivial way. This work proposes a thorough investigation of this framework, as a whole. The results of such study are three mathematical formulations that express the understood mathematical relationship in these well-known riddles. The proposed formulas are of help in the formalization of the solutions, which have been proven to be less time-taking when compared to the well-known classic ones, that look more heuristic than rigorous.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1904.10684,
  title  = {Enhancing logical deduction with math: the rationale behind Gardner and Carroll},
  author = {Tiziana Castellano and Pietro Boccadoro},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.10684},
  year   = {2019}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T08:48:03.756Z