Description

Episode Summary

Everyone loves puzzles, and our guest on this episode of the Sydcast is a master. Pete Winkler is a Dartmouth College professor, author, mathematician, scientist, and puzzle master at the Museum of Mathematics in New York City. He’s playful, engaging, and ingenious. He teaches the art and science of deciphering puzzles in everyday life to students, hedge fund managers, and senior executives, and in this episode of The Sydcast, he teaches all of us a thing or two about puzzles and life. 

Syd Finkelstein

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, whichLinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Peter Winkler

Peter Winkler is William Morrill Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Dartmouth College. He is the author of about 160 research papers and holds a dozen patents in marine navigation, cryptography, holography, gaming, optical networking, and distributed computing. His research is primarily in combinatorics, probability, and the theory of computing, with forays into statistical physics. He is a winner of the Mathematical Association of America's Lester R. Ford and David P. Robbins prizes.

For the academic year 2019-2020, Dr. Winkler is serving as Distinguished Chair of the Public Dissemination of Mathematics at the National Museum of Mathematics.

After getting an AB summa cum laude from Harvard, Dr. Winkler went to work for the government and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After serving, he began graduate work at Yale and wrote his PhD thesis in mathematical logic. He took academic jobs at Stanford and then Emory, becoming professor and chairman of Mathematics and Computer Science. While there he solved a notorious problem that had arisen at Bell Labs, and was offered jobs at Bellcore and then Bell Labs, where he became Director of Fundamental Mathematics Research. In 2003-4 he spent a year at the Institute of Advanced Study before moving to his present position at Dartmouth.

Along the way Dr. Winkler has written two collections of mathematical puzzles (Mathematical Puzzles: A Connoisseur's Collection and Mathematical Mind-Benders) and a book on cryptography in the game of bridge (Bridge at the Enigma Club), which was a runner up for the 2011 Master Point Press Book Of The Year award. He's working on a new puzzle book.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on different puzzles and what they test and how people benefit from puzzling.
• Benefits of reader feedback including better solutions and ideas for new puzzles.
• Strategies on teaching students, getting them interested in why versus how, and making math fun.
• How to use math and puzzles to improve your reasoning and intuition in other aspects of life.
• How to design a good puzzle and what makes a good puzzle according to Pete.

Quotes from the show:

• On a particular puzzle question: “What makes this a beautiful question is that reasonable, rational thought leads to the wrong answer.” – Peter Winkler
• “It’s easier for people to learn how to do something, than it is to learn why it works.” – Peter Winkler
• On getting students involved in learning: “They get that spark and then later they actually want to understand it better.” – Syd Finkelstein
• On associating math with fun: “If we could just make that association and do no more, I think that would be a major accomplishment.” – Peter Winkler
• “Puzzles help us to figure out where our intuition is likely to go off the rails.” – Peter Winkler
• “Having something there when you need it, is just as good as having something that is there all the time.” – Peter Winkler
• On superstition: “There’s evidence in various places that when you think something is true you behave in a way that is consistent with that.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “What makes a puzzle a good puzzle is not being easy or hard, it’s being clever, it’s being engaging, it’s being fun.” – Peter Winkler
• “Most things about leadership are not linear.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “I have a theory that puzzles actually help you think more about finding the truth and a little bit less about arguing a point of view before you think about it.” – Peter Winkler

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

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Peter Winkler

Dartmouth College: Professor Peter Winkler

Museum of Mathematics: https://momath.org

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This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)