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https://math.dartmouth.edu/

Mr. Peter Winkler has released his book for free on the above site. Can we discuss most/ all of the puzzles from the book here ?

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Generally, as long as you give proper accreditation to the source it is acceptable to post puzzles from elsewhere on PSE. However, I would advise you to consider each question's suitability on a case-by-case basis. Some key questions to ask yourself before posting are:

  1. Has this puzzle already been posted on PSE before? For example, the 'Pancake Stacks' question on page 20 here has previously been asked on PSE by user Mike Earnest here. Please make sure before posting that your questions will not be a duplicate of an existing question on the site (or it will just end up closed).

  2. Is this definitely a mathematical puzzle by PSE definitions, rather than a mathematical textbook-type problem? In my experience, this is one of the most common reasons that questions get closed on PSE. From a quick scan-through of the book I would say that many of these will seem to be less 'puzzle-y' and more like a 'problem' or 'exercise'. For example, 'Even Split' on page 43 reads:

    Prove that from every set of $2n$ integers, you can choose a subset of size $n$ whose sum is divisible by $n$.

    This seems like prime 'closure fodder' to me (the request to 'Prove' something is true is often a giveaway that textbook-style mathematics will form the bulk of the substance to an answer...).

  3. Have there been a lot of puzzles from this source posted to PSE lately? If so, be cautious that posting even more (or several at once) may result in 'genre fatigue' with users becoming quickly bored of a particular style or surmising that the user posting these is merely trying to generate reputation points for themselves via the work of others (and they may express this through prodigious use of the downvote button).

My suggestion: If there is a particular puzzle in the book that seems to be a real gem (or which you need help to understand), by all means do post it - just don't post all of them...! Be judicious in your submissions and the site content and quality will benefit from it.

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    $\begingroup$ I want to add: Solve the puzzle yourself before you post it. That way you can actually judge how good it is, be able to give good clarifications if asked, judge if a posted solution contains a subtle mistake, etc. $\endgroup$
    – xnor
    Commented Oct 12, 2023 at 0:52

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