ABSTRACT

Before describing my jumping card problems, a few words about Martin

Gardner are in order. Martin Gardner is the founding father of the

mathematical recreations world in Argentina. Through his columns and

books (the Canon) we got to know both the classics-like Sam Loyd and

H . E . Dudeney-and the contemporaries. It is because of Gardner that

we Argentinian mathemagicians even got to know one another. Here

is one such example: I n my first letter to Martin I told him that math

puzzlers in Buenos Aires were few and isolated. In his answer he sent me

the name and address of a Federico Fink, a few blocks from my home.