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Games of No Chance 5

Games of No Chance 5

Games of No Chance 5

Urban Larsson, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
May 2019
Hardback
9781108485807
AUD$261.95
inc GST
Hardback

    This book surveys the state-of-the-art in the theory of combinatorial games, that is games not involving chance or hidden information. Enthusiasts will find a wide variety of exciting topics, from a trailblazing presentation of scoring to solutions of three piece ending positions of bidding chess. Theories and techniques in many subfields are covered, such as universality, Wythoff Nim variations, misère play, partizan bidding (a.k.a. Richman games), loopy games, and the algebra of placement games. Also included are an updated list of unsolved problems, extremely efficient algorithms for taking and breaking games, a historical exposition of binary numbers and games by David Singmaster, chromatic Nim variations, renormalization for combinatorial games, and a survey of temperature theory by Elwyn Berlekamp, one of the founders of the field. The volume was initiated at the Combinatorial Game Theory Workshop, January 2011, held at the Banff International Research Station.

    • Features a survey by Elwyn Berlekamp on temperature theory
    • Presents seminal research on the notion of universality of a ruleset of combinatorial games
    • Includes the first comprehensive survey of games and sequences related to Wythoff Nim and complementary Beatty sequences

    Reviews & endorsements

    'Overall this volume has several strengths. There is an excellent 'About this book' section introducing each article, providing minimal background, some results, and giving motivation for reading the paper … The figures and notation are nicely done and easy to read. All chapters include an abstract and list of references … the myriad source material accompanying the topics is extremely helpful in directing the reader to background and further study topics.' Tricia Muldoon Brown, MAA Reviews

    'Those with a strong interest in combinatorial game theory may want to add this book to their library.' David Bevan, The Mathematical Gazette

    See more reviews

    Product details

    May 2019
    Hardback
    9781108485807
    498 pages
    241 × 160 × 30 mm
    0.85kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. About this book Urban Larsson
    • 2. Temperatures of games and coupons Elwyn Berlekamp
    • 3. Wythoff visions Eric Duchêne, Aviezri Fraenkel, Vladimir Gurvich, Nhan Ho, Clark Kimberling and Urban Larsson
    • 4. Scoring games: the state of play Urban Larsson, Richard Nowakowski and Carlos Pereira dos Santos
    • 5. Restricted developments in partizan misère game theory Rebecca Milley and Gabriel Renault
    • 6. Unsolved problems in combinatorial games Richard Nowakowski
    • 7. Misère games and misère quotients Aaron Siegel
    • 8. An historical tour of binary and tours David Singmaster
    • 9. A note on polynomial profiles of placement games J. I. Brown, D. Cox, A. Hoefel, Neil McKay, Rebecca Milley, Richard Nowakowski and Angela A. Siegel
    • 10. A PSPACE-complete Graph Nim Kyle Burke and Olivia George
    • 11. A nontrivial surjective map onto the short Conway group Alda Carvalho and Carlos Pereira dos Santos
    • 12. Games and complexes I: transformation via ideals Sara Faridi, Svenja Huntemann and Richard Nowakowski
    • 13. Games and complexes II: weight games and Kruskal-Katona type bounds Sara Faridi, Svenja Huntemann and Richard Nowakowski
    • 14. Chromatic Nim finds a game for your solution Mike Fisher and Urban Larsson
    • 15. Take-away games on Beatty's theorem and the notion of k-invariance Aviezri Fraenkel and Urban Larsson
    • 16. Geometric analysis of a generalized Wythoff game Eric Friedman, Scott M. Garrabrant, Ilona Phipps-Morgan, Adam S. Landsberg and Urban Larsson
    • 17. Searching for periodicity in officers J. P. Grossman
    • 18. Good pass moves in no-draw HyperHex: two proverbs Ryan Hayward
    • 19. Conjoined games: Go-Cut and Sno-Go Melissa Huggan and Richard Nowakowski
    • 20. Impartial games whose rulesets produce continued fractions Urban Larsson and Mike Weimerskirch
    • 21. Endgames in bidding chess Urban Larsson and Johan Wastlund
    • 22. Phutball draws Sucharit Sarkar
    • 23. Scoring play combinatorial games Fraser Stewart
    • 24. Generalized misère play Mike Weimerskirch.
      Contributors
    • Urban Larsson, Elwyn Berlekamp, Eric Duchêne, Aviezri Fraenkel, Vladimir Gurvich, Nhan Ho, Clark Kimberling, Richard Nowakowski, Carlos Pereira dos Santos, Rebecca Milley, Gabriel Renault, Aaron Siegel, David Singmaster, J. I. Brown, D. Cox, A. Hoefel, Neil McKay, Angela A. Siegel, Kyle Burke, Olivia George, Alda Carvalho, Sara Faridi, Svenja Huntemann, Mike Fisher, Eric Friedman, Scott M. Garrabrant, Ilona Phipps-Morgan, Adam S. Landsberg, J. P. Grossman, Ryan Hayward, Melissa Huggan, Mike Weimerskirch, Johan Wastlund, Sucharit Sarkar, Fraser Stewart