Lateral Solutions to Mathematical Problems
暫譯: 數學問題的橫向解決方案

《數學問題的側向解決方案》提供了一種通過側向思維來解決數學問題的新方法。側向思維長期以來被優秀的數學教師和講師非正式地使用，以增添他們的教材趣味，並引起學生對數學問題解決中更具藝術性的方面的興趣。在這本書中，作者試圖正式地進行這一過程，參考具體的、非技術性的問題，這些問題易於理解並能在中級水平上解釋。

本書適合對數學感興趣的高中生、本科生和研究生，尋求擺脫技術性材料的壓力，同時希望深入了解數學方法論；也適合尋求新穎課程材料的教師和講師；以及任何對數學和側向思維感興趣的人。

Desmond MacHale was born in 1946 in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. He earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Mathematical Science at University College Galway. In 1972, he was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Group Theory at the University of Keele in the UK under the supervision of Dr. Hans Liebeck. He taught mathematics for forty years at University College Cork in Ireland, rising to the rank of Associate Professor. He has over a hundred research articles published in refereed mathematical journals and his interests lie mainly in abstract algebra (groups and rings) but he has also published articles on geometric dissections, number theory, Euclidean geometry, trigonometry and a book on mathematical humour (Comic Sections Plus). Both as a student and teacher, he has won many prizes for his work on the popularisation of mathematics. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at University College Cork.

In 1984 he set up the Superbrain Examination open to all students of UCC and later the Irish Intervarsity Mathematics Competition. He has written four biographical books on George Boole who was the first professor of mathematics in Cork from 1849 to 1864. These are George Boole His Life and Work (2014); New Light on George Boole (with Yvonne Cohen) (2018); The Poetry of George Boole( 2021); and Simply Boole (with Yvonne Cohen) to appear. In 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Literature by the National University of Ireland for his work on George Boole. He has written over a dozen books of Lateral Thinking puzzles with Paul Sloane and many other books of mathematical puzzles, riddles and jokes--over eighty books in all.

Among Des MacHale's other interests are Geology (in which he has a diploma), puzzles of all sorts, words, music especially classical and Irish, photography,

He believes that mathematics is like an infinite goldmine--the more gold you dig out, the more there is to find.

德斯蒙德·麥克海爾於1946年出生於愛爾蘭梅奧郡的卡斯爾巴。 他在高威大學獲得數學科學的學士和碩士學位。1972年，他在英國基爾大學獲得群論的博士學位，指導教授為漢斯·利貝克博士。他在愛爾蘭的科克大學教授數學四十年，晉升為副教授。他在經過審核的數學期刊上發表了超過一百篇研究文章，主要研究興趣在於抽象代數（群和環），但他也發表過有關幾何切割、數論、歐幾里得幾何、三角學的文章，以及一本關於數學幽默的書籍（Comic Sections Plus）。作為學生和教師，他因推廣數學的工作獲得了許多獎項。他目前是科克大學的數學名譽教授。

1984年，他設立了開放給所有科克大學學生的超腦考試，並隨後創辦了愛爾蘭跨校數學競賽。他撰寫了四本關於喬治·布爾的傳記書籍，喬治·布爾是1849年至1864年科克的第一位數學教授。這些書籍包括《喬治·布爾的生活與工作》（2014年）；《喬治·布爾的新視野》（與伊馮·科恩合著，2018年）；《喬治·布爾的詩》（2021年）；以及即將出版的《簡單的布爾》（與伊馮·科恩合著）。2015年，他因對喬治·布爾的研究而獲得愛爾蘭國立大學的文學榮譽博士學位。他與保羅·斯洛恩共同撰寫了十多本側向思維謎題書籍，以及許多數學謎題、謎語和笑話的書籍，總共超過八十本。

德斯·麥克海爾的其他興趣包括地質學（他擁有相關文憑）、各種謎題、文字、音樂，特別是古典音樂和愛爾蘭音樂、攝影。

他相信數學就像一個無限的金礦——挖掘越多的金子，發現的就越多。