Games of No Chance 4

Games of No Chance 4
Author: Richard J. Nowakowski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2015-04-16
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1107011035

Combinatorial games are the strategy games that people like to play, for example chess, Hex, and Go. They differ from economic games in that there are two players who play alternately with no hidden cards and no dice. These games have a mathematical structure that allows players to analyse them in the abstract. Games of No Chance 4 contains the first comprehensive explorations of misère (last player to move loses) games, extends the theory for some classes of normal-play (last player to move wins) games and extends the analysis for some specific games. It includes a tutorial for the very successful approach to analysing misère impartial games and the first attempt at using it for misère partisan games. Hex and Go are featured, as well as new games: Toppling Dominoes and Maze. Updated versions of Unsolved Problems in Combinatorial Game Theory and the Combinatorial Games Bibliography complete the volume.

More Games of No Chance

More Games of No Chance
Author: Richard Nowakowski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 552
Release: 2002-11-25
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780521808323

This 2003 book provides an analysis of combinatorial games - games not involving chance or hidden information. It contains a fascinating collection of articles by some well-known names in the field, such as Elwyn Berlekamp and John Conway, plus other researchers in mathematics and computer science, together with some top game players. The articles run the gamut from theoretical approaches (infinite games, generalizations of game values, 2-player cellular automata, Alpha-Beta pruning under partial orders) to other games (Amazons, Chomp, Dot-and-Boxes, Go, Chess, Hex). Many of these advances reflect the interplay of the computer science and the mathematics. The book ends with a bibliography by A. Fraenkel and a list of combinatorial game theory problems by R. K. Guy. Like its predecessor, Games of No Chance, this should be on the shelf of all serious combinatorial games enthusiasts.

Games of No Chance 5

Games of No Chance 5
Author: Urban Larsson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 499
Release: 2019-05-09
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1108485804

Surveys the state-of-the-art in combinatorial game theory, that is games not involving chance or hidden information.

Games of No Chance 3

Games of No Chance 3
Author: Michael H. Albert
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2009-05-29
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0521861349

This fascinating look at combinatorial games, that is, games not involving chance or hidden information, offers updates on standard games such as Go and Hex, on impartial games such as Chomp and Wythoff's Nim, and on aspects of games with infinitesimal values, plus analyses of the complexity of some games and puzzles and surveys on algorithmic game theory, on playing to lose, and on coping with cycles. The volume is rounded out with an up-to-date bibliography by Fraenkel and, for readers eager to get their hands dirty, a list of unsolved problems by Guy and Nowakowski. Highlights include some of Siegel's groundbreaking work on loopy games, the unveiling by Friedman and Landsberg of the use of renormalization to give very intriguing results about Chomp, and Nakamura's "Counting Liberties in Capturing Races of Go." Like its predecessors, this book should be on the shelf of all serious games enthusiasts.

Games of No Chance

Games of No Chance
Author: Richard J. Nowakowski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 556
Release: 1998-11-13
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780521646529

Is Nine-Men Morris, in the hands of perfect players, a win for white or for black - or a draw? Can king, rook, and knight always defeat king and two knights in chess? What can Go players learn from economists? What are nimbers, tinies, switches and minies? This book deals with combinatorial games, that is, games not involving chance or hidden information. Their study is at once old and young: though some games, such as chess, have been analyzed for centuries, the first full analysis of a nontrivial combinatorial game (Nim) only appeared in 1902. The first part of this book will be accessible to anyone, regardless of background: it contains introductory expositions, reports of unusual tournaments, and a fascinating article by John H. Conway on the possibly everlasting contest between an angel and a devil. For those who want to delve more deeply, the book also contains combinatorial studies of chess and Go; reports on computer advances such as the solution of Nine-Men Morris and Pentominoes; and theoretical approaches to such problems as games with many players. If you have read and enjoyed Martin Gardner, or if you like to learn and analyze new games, this book is for you.

The Book on Games of Chance

The Book on Games of Chance
Author: Gerolamo Cardano
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2015-11-04
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 048680898X

Mathematics was only one area of interest for Gerolamo Cardano ― the sixteenth-century astrologer, philosopher, and physician was also a prolific author and inveterate gambler. Gambling led Cardano to the study of probability, and he was the first writer to recognize that random events are governed by mathematical laws. Published posthumously in 1663, Cardano's Liber de ludo aleae (Book on Games of Chance) is often considered the major starting point of the study of mathematical probability. The Italian scholar formulated some of the field's basic ideas more than a century before the better-known correspondence of Pascal and Fermat. Although his book had no direct influence on other early thinkers about probability, it remains an important antecedent to later expressions of the science's tenets.

Chance, Strategy, and Choice

Chance, Strategy, and Choice
Author: Samuel B. Smith
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2015-06-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107084520

Games and elections are fundamental activities in society with applications in economics, political science, and sociology. These topics offer familiar, current, and lively subjects for a course in mathematics. This classroom-tested textbook, primarily intended for a general education course in game theory at the freshman or sophomore level, provides an elementary treatment of games and elections. Starting with basics such as gambling, zero-sum and combinatorial games, Nash equilibria, social dilemmas, and fairness and impossibility theorems for elections, the text then goes further into the theory with accessible proofs of advanced topics such as the Sprague-Grundy theorem and Arrow's impossibility theorem. * Uses an integrative approach to probability, game, and social choice theory * Provides a gentle introduction to the logic of mathematical proof, thus equipping readers with the necessary tools for further mathematical studies * Contains numerous exercises and examples of varying levels of difficulty * Requires only a high school mathematical background.

Laws of the Game

Laws of the Game
Author: Manfred Eigen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 372
Release: 1993-04-11
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780691025667

Using game theory and examples of actual games people play, Nobel laureate Manfred Eigen and Ruthild Winkler show how the elements of chance and rules underlie all that happens in the universe, from genetic behavior through economic growth to the composition of music. To illustrate their argument, the authors turn to classic games--backgammon, bridge, and chess--and relate them to physical, biological, and social applications of probability theory and number theory. Further, they have invented, and present here, more than a dozen playable games derived from scientific models for equilibrium, selection, growth, and even the composition of RNA.

Not By Chance

Not By Chance
Author: Kathy Herman
Publisher: Multnomah
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2006-08-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 159052490X

In Search of Significance Thirty-year-old Brandon Jones arrives at his parents’ doorstep burned out, jobless, and now fiancée-less. Ellen and Guy can provide a place for him to stay only until he figures out what to do with his life. When he takes a temporary job at a summer camp for disadvantaged kids, Brandon begins a turbulent relationship with a biracial adolescent named Caedmon. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos—caused by Caedmon’s disappearance just before a hurricane is predicted to hit Seaport, and by a group of racists who will not stop at arson or murder—Brandon begins to see that the pieces of his life are not by chance. If he has discovered his life’s purpose, can he live it? “Life is pointless. And if there’s a God, He’s asleep on the job.” Brandon Jones didn’t know what he expected from the homeless man he met on the way out of town. Certainly not the angry words that haunted him. But then, nothing happened the way he expected. Not his promising career, not his engagement to the “perfect” woman. All his certainty that God had plans for him, that he was meant to do something important—something significant—had amounted to a big fat zero. And now, here he was, thirty years old, no job, no fiancée. Living with his parents. Maybe the homeless guy was right. Then again…maybe not. Maybe Brandon has returned to Seaport for a reason. To face down a brewing disaster, steeped in hate crimes and danger. To survive against all odds. To learn, once and for all, that “many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Story Behind the Book “I am continually blessed by how many readers express their appreciation for the God-given talent that enables me to write novels, but I’m more amazed that so many of them feel as though they haven’t been gifted with anything. My goal in writing Not By Chance was to show that God’s purpose for every life is in place before we are born. Based on Proverbs 19:21 , ‘Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the L ord’s purpose that prevails,’ I sought to create unforgettable characters who challenge each reader’s understanding of their purpose in life. Ultimately, I want to point them to the Creator with the Master plan.” —Kathy Herman

Combinatorial Game Theory

Combinatorial Game Theory
Author: Aaron N. Siegel
Publisher: American Mathematical Society
Total Pages: 541
Release: 2023-11-20
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1470475685

It is wonderful to see advanced combinatorial game theory made accessible. Siegel's expertise and enjoyable writing style make this book a perfect resource for anyone wanting to learn the latest developments and open problems in the field. —Erik Demaine, MIT Aaron Siegel has been the major contributor to Combinatorial Game Theory over the last decade or so. Now, in this authoritative work, he has made the latest results in the theory accessible, so that the subject will achieve the place in mathematics that it deserves. —Richard Guy, University of Calgary Combinatorial game theory is the study of two-player games with no hidden information and no chance elements. The theory assigns algebraic values to positions in such games and seeks to quantify the algebraic and combinatorial structure of their interactions. Its modern form was introduced thirty years ago, with the publication of the classic Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays by Berlekamp, Conway, and Guy, and interest has rapidly increased in recent decades. This book is a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the subject, tracing its development from first principles and examples through many of its most recent advances. Roughly half the book is devoted to a rigorous treatment of the classical theory; the remaining material is an in-depth presentation of topics that appear for the first time in textbook form, including the theory of misère quotients and Berlekamp's generalized temperature theory. Packed with hundreds of examples and exercises and meticulously cross-referenced, Combinatorial Game Theory will appeal equally to students, instructors, and research professionals. More than forty open problems and conjectures are mentioned in the text, highlighting the many mysteries that still remain in this young and exciting field. Aaron Siegel holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley and has held positions at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and the Institute for Advanced Study. He was a partner at Berkeley Quantitative, a technology-driven hedge fund, and is presently employed by Twitter, Inc.