A World of Chess

A World of Chess
Author: Jean-Louis Cazaux
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2017-09-19
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 1476629013

With more than 400 illustrations, and detailed maps, this immense and deeply researched account of the history of chess covers not only the modern international game, derived from Persian and Arab roots, but a broad spectrum of variants going back 1500 years, some of which are still played in various parts of the world. The evolution of strategic board games, especially in India, China and Japan, is discussed in detail. Many more recent chess variants (board sizes, new pieces, 3-D, etc.) are fully covered. Instructions for play are provided, with historical context, for every game presented.

Luck, Logic, and White Lies

Luck, Logic, and White Lies
Author: Jörg Bewersdorff
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 569
Release: 2021-04-27
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1000372073

Praise for the First Edition "Luck, Logic, and White Lies teaches readers of all backgrounds about the insight mathematical knowledge can bring and is highly recommended reading among avid game players, both to better understand the game itself and to improve one’s skills." – Midwest Book Review "The best book I've found for someone new to game math is Luck, Logic and White Lies by Jörg Bewersdorff. It introduces the reader to a vast mathematical literature, and does so in an enormously clear manner. . ." – Alfred Wallace, Musings, Ramblings, and Things Left Unsaid "The aim is to introduce the mathematics that will allow analysis of the problem or game. This is done in gentle stages, from chapter to chapter, so as to reach as broad an audience as possible . . . Anyone who likes games and has a taste for analytical thinking will enjoy this book." – Peter Fillmore, CMS Notes Luck, Logic, and White Lies: The Mathematics of Games, Second Edition considers a specific problem—generally a game or game fragment and introduces the related mathematical methods. It contains a section on the historical development of the theories of games of chance, and combinatorial and strategic games. This new edition features new and much refreshed chapters, including an all-new Part IV on the problem of how to measure skill in games. Readers are also introduced to new references and techniques developed since the previous edition. Features Provides a uniquely historical perspective on the mathematical underpinnings of a comprehensive list of games Suitable for a broad audience of differing mathematical levels. Anyone with a passion for games, game theory, and mathematics will enjoy this book, whether they be students, academics, or game enthusiasts Covers a wide selection of topics at a level that can be appreciated on a historical, recreational, and mathematical level. Jörg Bewersdorff (1958) studied mathematics from 1975 to 1982 at the University of Bonn and earned his PhD in 1985. In the same year, he started his career as game developer and mathematician. He served as the general manager of the subsidiaries of Gauselmann AG for more than two decades where he developed electronic gaming machines, automatic payment machines, and coin-operated Internet terminals. Dr. Bewersdorff has authored several books on Galois theory (translated in English and Korean), mathematical statistics, and object-oriented programming with JavaScript. *Here is the list of Errata for the second edition of Luck, Logic, and White Lies: The Mathematics of Games: http://bewersdorff-online.de/LLWL-errata.pdf

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.

Raising Public Awareness of Mathematics

Raising Public Awareness of Mathematics
Author: Ehrhard Behrends
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2012-07-04
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3642257100

This collective book aims to encourage and inspire actions directed towards raising public awareness of the importance of mathematical sciences for our contemporary society in a cultural and historical perspective. Mathematical societies, in Europe and around the world, can find ideas, blueprints and suggestions for activities – including concerted actions with other international organizations – directed towards raising public awareness of science, technology and other fields where mathematics plays a strong role. The material is divided into four parts: • National experiences • Exhibitions / mathematical museums • Popularization activities • Popularization: why and how?

Past Times: Ancient Board Games

Past Times: Ancient Board Games
Author: Jeffrey S. Johnston
Publisher: Jeffrey S. Johnston
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2015-02-14
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN:

Past Times is a series of books about historical games and pastimes throughout the ages. This particular book is about games from Viking age and earlier.

Playing Games in Nineteenth-Century Britain and America

Playing Games in Nineteenth-Century Britain and America
Author: Ann R. Hawkins
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2021-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1438485565

A vital part of daily life in the nineteenth century, games and play were so familiar and so ubiquitous that their presence over time became almost invisible. Technological advances during the century allowed for easier manufacturing and distribution of board games and books about games, and the changing economic conditions created a larger market for them as well as more time in which to play them. These changing conditions not only made games more profitable, but they also increased the influence of games on many facets of culture. Playing Games in Nineteenth-Century Britain and America focuses on the material and visual culture of both American and British games, examining how cultures of play intersect with evolving gender norms, economic structures, scientific discourses, social movements, and nationalist sentiments.

Gaming Empire in Children's British Board Games, 1836-1860

Gaming Empire in Children's British Board Games, 1836-1860
Author: Megan A. Norcia
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2019-03-25
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 0429559267

Over a century before Monopoly invited child players to bankrupt one another with merry ruthlessness, a lively and profitable board game industry thrived in Britain from the 1750s onward, thanks to publishers like John Wallis, John Betts, and William Spooner. As part of the new wave of materials catering to the developing mass market of child consumers, the games steadily acquainted future upper- and middle-class empire builders (even the royal family themselves) with the strategies of imperial rule: cultivating, trading, engaging in conflict, displaying, and competing. In their parlors, these players learned the techniques of successful colonial management by playing games such as Spooner’s A Voyage of Discovery, or Betts’ A Tour of the British Colonies and Foreign Possessions. These games shaped ideologies about nation, race, and imperial duty, challenging the portrait of Britons as "absent-minded imperialists." Considered on a continuum with children’s geography primers and adventure tales, these games offer a new way to historicize the Victorians, Britain, and Empire itself. The archival research conducted here illustrates the changing disciplinary landscape of children’s literature/culture studies, as well as nineteenth-century imperial studies, by situating the games at the intersection of material and literary culture.

Around the World in Eighty Games

Around the World in Eighty Games
Author: Marcus du Sautoy
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2023-11-07
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1541601297

A “fun” and “unexpected” (The Economist) global tour of the world’s greatest games and the mathematics that underlies them Where should you move first in Connect 4? What is the best property in Monopoly? And how can pi help you win rock paper scissors? Spanning millennia, oceans and continents, countries and cultures, Around the World in Eighty Games gleefully explores how mathematics and games have always been deeply intertwined. Renowned mathematician Marcus du Sautoy investigates how games provided the first opportunities for deep mathematical insight into the world, how understanding math can help us play games better, and how both math and games are integral to human psychology and culture. For as long as there have been people, there have been games, and for nearly as long, we have been exploring and discovering mathematics. A grand adventure, Around the World in Eighty Games teaches us not just how games are won, but how they, and their math, shape who we are.

Sortition and Democracy

Sortition and Democracy
Author: Liliane Lopez-Rabatel
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
Total Pages: 652
Release: 2020-02-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1788360303

After two centuries during which it had nearly disappeared in Western countries, sortition is used again as a method of selecting people who could speak for, and in certain cases decide for, all the citizenry. What is the meaning of this comeback? To answer this question, this book offers a historical analysis. It brings together a number of the best specialists on political sortition from antiquity to contemporary experiments, in Europe but also in the Ancient Middle East and in imperial China. With a transdisciplinary perspective, this volume demonstrates that sortition has been a crucial device in political history; that the instruments and places where sortition was practised matter for the understanding of the social and political logics at stake; and that these logics have been quite different, random selection being sometimes an instrument of radical democracy and in other contexts a tool for solving conflicts among elites. Will sortition in politics helps to democratize democracy in the twenty-first century?