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