Math Geek Filter: Where to find and what to call these

November 10, 2009 3:37 PM

Back in middle school and high school we'd play these fun math games where you'd have to draw a chart and figure out who had what. Example, there are five people, joe jon julie mike and amy. Each has a favorite color. Mike doesn't like red, but amy doesn't like blue, etc etc. What are these called and where can I get more? They were a blast!!
posted by hipersons to Education (22 answers total)

I found a book called "Logic Games" in the bookstore the other day, there were lots of those problems in it.
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 3:39 PM on November 10, 2009

Best answer: Logic puzzles? (Be sure to check out this one.)
posted by equalpants at 3:40 PM on November 10, 2009

Are you talking about logic grid puzzles?

If so, there seem to be some very promising results if you run a Google search for that phrase.
posted by sueinnyc at 3:40 PM on November 10, 2009

Well, for an advanced version you can play with the LSAT logic games. From my memory of the LSAT and this description, it seems similar, although I wouldn't consider them math-based so perhaps I misunderstood.
posted by bunnycup at 3:41 PM on November 10, 2009

Yes, you want logic problems. There are several monthly magazines - if you check out any bookstore you can probably find a couple.
posted by Stacey at 3:42 PM on November 10, 2009

Best answer: I agree with sueinnyc that you seem to be talking about logic grid puzzles, which I love too. Here are a few links.
posted by bearwife at 3:45 PM on November 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

They have whole books of these in the magazine racks at grocery stores.
posted by Kimberly at 3:51 PM on November 10, 2009

+1 for LSAT.
posted by jeffamaphone at 3:52 PM on November 10, 2009

LSAT, a million times over.
posted by Lemurrhea at 4:01 PM on November 10, 2009

Sudoku are basically this in compressed form--why not start there?
posted by gensubuser at 4:19 PM on November 10, 2009

nthing logic puzzles, which is what they were called when I was a kid.
posted by LMGM at 4:36 PM on November 10, 2009

nthing LSAT. If you find logic games to be fun, you'll love that damn test.
posted by ishotjr at 5:04 PM on November 10, 2009

Response by poster: You people rock, thanks!
posted by hipersons at 5:15 PM on November 10, 2009

Best answer: Penny Press Magazines publishes whole issues of those kinds of puzzles. I love them too!
posted by amyms at 5:34 PM on November 10, 2009

Penny Press Magazines publishes whole issues of those kinds of puzzles. I love them too!

Yep those are the ones I buy in the grocery store.
posted by Kimberly at 6:25 PM on November 10, 2009

Best answer: You might want to look into some of Raymond Smullyan's books. I loved What's the Name of this Book? and Alice in Puzzleland as a girl who was similarly obsessed with logic puzzles. They start off simple, with knights and knaves type puzzles and then progressively harder and harder. You'll have a blast!
posted by peacheater at 6:48 PM on November 10, 2009

Response by poster: WoooHoo!! I solved the Zebra question in about 20 minutes.
posted by hipersons at 6:55 PM on November 10, 2009

This was pretty much all I needed to scratch that logic puzzle itch. Bonus: free. Double bonus: Windows, OS X and Linux versions available.
posted by Freon at 10:58 PM on November 10, 2009

I was wondering about the same thing a while back, and came across a couple of magazines that are almost entirely logic grid puzzles. There's the aforementioned Penny Press version, although I prefer Dell's, which seems to have more variety to its puzzles. Both are $5 and odds are your local book or drugstores will have one or the other in the magazine games section.

Some things just don't translate as well to a computer screen... although that obviously has the advantage of being free.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:05 AM on November 11, 2009

If you have a Nintendo DS, you might want to pick up one the Professor Layton games. They are dotted with small logic puzzles amongst hundreds of other puzzles. Great games.
posted by Frasermoo at 6:20 AM on November 11, 2009

Related to the Einstein game that Freon linked to above: I have been using a similar program from Everett Kaser Software called Sherlock. I can't link to it because I'm at work. Try this: lame attempt to find the link otherwise google for it.

The version that I have has an expanded set of cards - 8X8 instead of just 6X6 WooHoo!! I've played over 700 games of it so far. It's shareware, so you get about 10 games at each level to try. For me, it was just enough to get me hooked so I paid for the license.
posted by CathyG at 11:05 AM on November 11, 2009

Response by poster: Unfortunately I live in Sweden now so I don't have access to these awesome magazines, but I'll be sure to look for them when I return for the holidays.
posted by hipersons at 6:06 AM on November 12, 2009