[math-fun] Good books on combinatorial game theory? (besides THE book)
A smart high school student whom I'm mentoring has expressed interest in learning about combinatorial game theory. My first thought was to recommend "Winning Ways", but I think it might be better to start her on something shorter and more focused, and then suggest "Winning Ways" if the shorter book whets her appetite for more. Any suggestions? Jim Propp
RKG's Fair Game http://www.amazon.ca/Fair-Game-Impartial-Combinatorial-Games/dp/0912843160 On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 8:03 PM, James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
A smart high school student whom I'm mentoring has expressed interest in learning about combinatorial game theory. My first thought was to recommend "Winning Ways", but I think it might be better to start her on something shorter and more focused, and then suggest "Winning Ways" if the shorter book whets her appetite for more. Any suggestions?
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
-- Thane Plambeck tplambeck@gmail.com http://counterwave.com/
Combinatorial game theory is not an easy subject. THE BOOK was the best that we could do. Conway's On Numbers and Games shows that the subject is a genuine branch of mathematics. Don Knuth's Surreal Numbers is a readable introduction to the new stuff. Albert, Nowakowski & Wolfe, Lessons in Play, makes it possible to give a rather tough undergraduate course. Aaron Siegel's Combinatorial Game Theory is a superb graduate text, revealing the enormous difficulty of the subject. Berlekamp & Wolfe, Mathematical Go, shows that there are connexions with the real world, as does Berlekamp's Dots and Boxes. If there are people out there who are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort with very little chance of reward, then there are the three volumes of conference proceedings, Games of No Chance. Best of luck!! R. On Mon, 20 Jul 2015, James Propp wrote:
A smart high school student whom I'm mentoring has expressed interest in learning about combinatorial game theory. My first thought was to recommend "Winning Ways", but I think it might be better to start her on something shorter and more focused, and then suggest "Winning Ways" if the shorter book whets her appetite for more. Any suggestions?
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
If you don't mind a small .pdf attachment, here is a letter I wrote to the son of a friend about games... On Jul 21, 2015, at 7:28 AM, rkg <rkg@ucalgary.ca> wrote:
Combinatorial game theory is not an easy subject. THE BOOK was the best that we could do. Conway's On Numbers and Games shows that the subject is a genuine branch of mathematics. Don Knuth's Surreal Numbers is a readable introduction to the new stuff. Albert, Nowakowski & Wolfe, Lessons in Play, makes it possible to give a rather tough undergraduate course. Aaron Siegel's Combinatorial Game Theory is a superb graduate text, revealing the enormous difficulty of the subject. Berlekamp & Wolfe, Mathematical Go, shows that there are connexions with the real world, as does Berlekamp's Dots and Boxes. If there are people out there who are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort with very little chance of reward, then there are the three volumes of conference proceedings, Games of No Chance. Best of luck!! R.
On Mon, 20 Jul 2015, James Propp wrote:
A smart high school student whom I'm mentoring has expressed interest in learning about combinatorial game theory. My first thought was to recommend "Winning Ways", but I think it might be better to start her on something shorter and more focused, and then suggest "Winning Ways" if the shorter book whets her appetite for more. Any suggestions?
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
Cristopher Moore Professor, Santa Fe Institute The Nature of Computation Cristopher Moore and Stephan Mertens Available now at all good bookstores, or through Oxford University Press http://www.nature-of-computation.org/
Here is a letter I wrote to the son of a friend about games... this time in a dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jyezyoziyksqqru/games.pdf?dl=0 - Cris On Jul 21, 2015, at 7:28 AM, rkg <rkg@ucalgary.ca> wrote:
Combinatorial game theory is not an easy subject. THE BOOK was the best that we could do. Conway's On Numbers and Games shows that the subject is a genuine branch of mathematics. Don Knuth's Surreal Numbers is a readable introduction to the new stuff. Albert, Nowakowski & Wolfe, Lessons in Play, makes it possible to give a rather tough undergraduate course. Aaron Siegel's Combinatorial Game Theory is a superb graduate text, revealing the enormous difficulty of the subject. Berlekamp & Wolfe, Mathematical Go, shows that there are connexions with the real world, as does Berlekamp's Dots and Boxes. If there are people out there who are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort with very little chance of reward, then there are the three volumes of conference proceedings, Games of No Chance. Best of luck!! R.
On Mon, 20 Jul 2015, James Propp wrote:
A smart high school student whom I'm mentoring has expressed interest in learning about combinatorial game theory. My first thought was to recommend "Winning Ways", but I think it might be better to start her on something shorter and more focused, and then suggest "Winning Ways" if the shorter book whets her appetite for more. Any suggestions?
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
On 2015-07-20 20:03, James Propp wrote:
A smart high school student whom I'm mentoring has expressed interest in learning about combinatorial game theory. My first thought was to recommend "Winning Ways", but I think it might be better to start her on something shorter and more focused, and then suggest "Winning Ways" if the shorter book whets her appetite for more. Any suggestions?
Jim Propp __________________________ The 12 yr old Australian kid who beat my record smallest nonlinear grower
#C 'Gotts Dots': sprouts its nth switchengine at t ~ 2^(24n-6) -- #C 41 ON cells, growth rate O(t ln t): Bill Gosper, 11 March 2006 #C More precisely, at t = 215643, 3662092278363, 61439713210231265883, #C ..., = 3 (4281 4096^(2 n - 1) - 211655)/241 whereat the #C populations go 316387, 5742718768151, 103173468009186875005, ..., #C = (9280232545511 2^(24 n) - 888556308770717696)/529964572999680 #C + (614 + 1427 2^(24 n - 12)/241) n. 25 Jan 2015 x = 187, y = 39, rule = B3/S23 o$o$o9$4bo3bo$5bobo$6bo2bo$9bo$9bo9$185bo$186bo$182bo3bo$183b4o$179bo$ 180b2o$179bo$183b4o$182bo3bo$186bo$185bo$175bo$176bo$170bo5bo$171b6o! taught himself Life out of a copy of WW he found in his grandfather's house. Some kids can handle anything. --rwg
participants (5)
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Cris Moore -
James Propp -
rkg -
rwg -
Thane Plambeck