Bill Cutler (mathematician)
For the baseball figure, see Bill Cutler (baseball executive).
William H. (Bill) Cutler is a retired American mathematician and systems analyst, living in Illinois USA.
His main interest and area of research is in burr puzzles and packing (box-filling) puzzles. He published articles in the Journal of Recreational Mathematics on the Six-Piece Burr and published two booklets, Holey 6-Piece Burr! and A Computer Analysis of All 6-Piece Burrs.
Cutler has designed a wide variety of burrs in addition to his well-known (within the world of metagrobologists) work on the Six-Piece Burr.
He was mentioned in the season 5 finale of Numb3rs for his burr puzzle research. His work on burrs is also referenced in "The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections" by Stewart T. Coffin.
Works include
- 1978, The Six-Piece Burr, Journal of Recreational Mathematics, Vol 10(4),
- 1977–78, pp 241–250 pb, Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing Co.
- 1988, Holey 6-Piece Burr!, 46pp, pb, Palatine, IL: Self Published
- 1994, A Computer Analysis of All 6-Piece Burrs, 80pp, pb, Palatine, IL: Self Published