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Star (game Theory)
In combinatorial game theory, star, written as * or *1, is the value given to the game where both players have only the option of moving to the zero game. Star may also be denoted as the surreal form . This game is an unconditional first-player win. Star, as defined by John Conway in '' Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays'', is a value, but not a number in the traditional sense. Star is not zero, but neither positive nor negative, and is therefore said to be ''fuzzy'' and ''confused with'' (a fourth alternative that means neither "less than", "equal to", nor "greater than") 0. It is less than all positive rational numbers, and greater than all negative rationals. Games other than may have value *. For example, the game *2 + *3, where the values are nimbers, has value * despite each player having more options than simply moving to 0. Why * ≠ 0 A combinatorial game has a positive and negative player; which player moves first is left ambiguous. The combinatorial game ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Combinatorial Game Theory
Combinatorial game theory is a branch of mathematics and theoretical computer science that typically studies sequential games with perfect information. Study has been largely confined to two-player games that have a ''position'' that the players take turns changing in defined ways or ''moves'' to achieve a defined winning condition. Combinatorial game theory has not traditionally studied games of chance or those that use imperfect or incomplete information, favoring games that offer perfect information in which the state of the game and the set of available moves is always known by both players. However, as mathematical techniques advance, the types of game that can be mathematically analyzed expands, thus the boundaries of the field are ever changing. Scholars will generally define what they mean by a "game" at the beginning of a paper, and these definitions often vary as they are specific to the game being analyzed and are not meant to represent the entire scope of the field. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zero (game)
In combinatorial game theory, the zero game is the game where neither player has any legal options. Therefore, under the normal play convention, the first player automatically loses, and it is a second-player win. The zero game has a Sprague–Grundy value of zero. The combinatorial notation of the zero game is: .. A zero game should be contrasted with the star game , which is a first-player win since either player must (if first to move in the game) move to a zero game, and therefore win. Examples Simple examples of zero games include Nim with no piles or a Hackenbush diagram with nothing drawn on it. Sprague-Grundy value The Sprague–Grundy theorem applies to impartial games (in which each move may be played by either player) and asserts that every such game has an equivalent Sprague–Grundy value, a "nimber", which indicates the number of pieces in an equivalent position in the game of nim. All second-player win games have a Sprague–Grundy value of zero, though the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On Numbers And Games
''On Numbers and Games'' is a mathematics book by John Horton Conway first published in 1976. The book is written by a pre-eminent mathematician, and is directed at other mathematicians. The material is, however, developed in a playful and unpretentious manner and many chapters are accessible to non-mathematicians. Martin Gardner discussed the book at length, particularly Conway's construction of surreal numbers, in his Mathematical Games column in ''Scientific American'' in September 1976. The book is roughly divided into two sections: the first half (or ''Zeroth Part''), on numbers, the second half (or ''First Part''), on games. In the ''Zeroth Part'', Conway provides axioms for arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and inequality. This allows an axiomatic construction of numbers and ordinal arithmetic, namely, the integers, reals, the countable infinity, and entire towers of infinite ordinals. The object to which these axioms apply takes the form , whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surreal Number
In mathematics, the surreal number system is a totally ordered proper class containing the real numbers as well as infinite and infinitesimal numbers, respectively larger or smaller in absolute value than any positive real number. The surreals share many properties with the reals, including the usual arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division); as such, they form an ordered field. If formulated in von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory, the surreal numbers are a universal ordered field in the sense that all other ordered fields, such as the rationals, the reals, the rational functions, the Levi-Civita field, the superreal numbers (including the hyperreal numbers) can be realized as subfields of the surreals. The surreals also contain all transfinite ordinal numbers; the arithmetic on them is given by the natural operations. It has also been shown (in von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory) that the maximal class hyperreal field is isomorp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nimber
In mathematics, the nimbers, also called ''Grundy numbers'', are introduced in combinatorial game theory, where they are defined as the values of heaps in the game Nim. The nimbers are the ordinal numbers endowed with ''nimber addition'' and ''nimber multiplication'', which are distinct from ordinal addition and ordinal multiplication. Because of the Sprague–Grundy theorem In combinatorial game theory, the Sprague–Grundy theorem states that every impartial game under the normal play convention is equivalent to a one-heap game of nim, or to an infinite generalization of nim. It can therefore be represented as ... which states that every impartial game is equivalent to a Nim heap of a certain size, nimbers arise in a much larger class of impartial games. They may also occur in partisan games like Domineering. Nimbers have the characteristic that their Left and Right options are identical, following a certain schema, and that they are their own negatives, such that a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Characteristic (algebra)
In mathematics, the characteristic of a ring (mathematics), ring , often denoted , is defined to be the smallest number of times one must use the ring's identity element, multiplicative identity (1) in a sum to get the additive identity (0). If this sum never reaches the additive identity the ring is said to have characteristic zero. That is, is the smallest positive number such that: :\underbrace_ = 0 if such a number exists, and otherwise. Motivation The special definition of the characteristic zero is motivated by the equivalent definitions characterized in the next section, where the characteristic zero is not required to be considered separately. The characteristic may also be taken to be the exponent (group theory), exponent of the ring's additive group, that is, the smallest positive integer such that: :\underbrace_ = 0 for every element of the ring (again, if exists; otherwise zero). Some authors do not include the multiplicative identity element in their r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field (mathematics)
In mathematics, a field is a set on which addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are defined and behave as the corresponding operations on rational and real numbers do. A field is thus a fundamental algebraic structure which is widely used in algebra, number theory, and many other areas of mathematics. The best known fields are the field of rational numbers, the field of real numbers and the field of complex numbers. Many other fields, such as fields of rational functions, algebraic function fields, algebraic number fields, and ''p''-adic fields are commonly used and studied in mathematics, particularly in number theory and algebraic geometry. Most cryptographic protocols rely on finite fields, i.e., fields with finitely many elements. The relation of two fields is expressed by the notion of a field extension. Galois theory, initiated by Évariste Galois in the 1830s, is devoted to understanding the symmetries of field extensions. Among other results, thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Integer
An integer is the number zero (), a positive natural number (, , , etc.) or a negative integer with a minus sign (−1, −2, −3, etc.). The negative numbers are the additive inverses of the corresponding positive numbers. In the language of mathematics, the set of integers is often denoted by the boldface or blackboard bold \mathbb. The set of natural numbers \mathbb is a subset of \mathbb, which in turn is a subset of the set of all rational numbers \mathbb, itself a subset of the real numbers \mathbb. Like the natural numbers, \mathbb is countably infinite. An integer may be regarded as a real number that can be written without a fractional component. For example, 21, 4, 0, and −2048 are integers, while 9.75, , and are not. The integers form the smallest group and the smallest ring containing the natural numbers. In algebraic number theory, the integers are sometimes qualified as rational integers to distinguish them from the more general algebraic integers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sum Of Combinatorial Games
In the mathematics of combinatorial games, the sum or disjunctive sum of two games is a game in which the two games are played in parallel, with each player being allowed to move in just one of the games per turn. The sum game finishes when there are no moves left in either of the two parallel games, at which point (in normal play) the last player to move wins. This operation may be extended to disjunctive sums of any number of games, again by playing the games in parallel and moving in exactly one of the games per turn. It is the fundamental operation that is used in the Sprague–Grundy theorem for impartial games and which led to the field of combinatorial game theory for partisan games. Application to common games Disjunctive sums arise in games that naturally break up into components or regions that do not interact except in that each player in turn must choose just one component to play in. Examples of such games are Go, Nim, Sprouts, Domineering, the Game of the Amazo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nimber
In mathematics, the nimbers, also called ''Grundy numbers'', are introduced in combinatorial game theory, where they are defined as the values of heaps in the game Nim. The nimbers are the ordinal numbers endowed with ''nimber addition'' and ''nimber multiplication'', which are distinct from ordinal addition and ordinal multiplication. Because of the Sprague–Grundy theorem In combinatorial game theory, the Sprague–Grundy theorem states that every impartial game under the normal play convention is equivalent to a one-heap game of nim, or to an infinite generalization of nim. It can therefore be represented as ... which states that every impartial game is equivalent to a Nim heap of a certain size, nimbers arise in a much larger class of impartial games. They may also occur in partisan games like Domineering. Nimbers have the characteristic that their Left and Right options are identical, following a certain schema, and that they are their own negatives, such that a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
If And Only If
In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is biconditional (a statement of material equivalence), and can be likened to the standard material conditional ("only if", equal to "if ... then") combined with its reverse ("if"); hence the name. The result is that the truth of either one of the connected statements requires the truth of the other (i.e. either both statements are true, or both are false), though it is controversial whether the connective thus defined is properly rendered by the English "if and only if"—with its pre-existing meaning. For example, ''P if and only if Q'' means that ''P'' is true whenever ''Q'' is true, and the only case in which ''P'' is true is if ''Q'' is also true, whereas in the case of ''P if Q'', there could be other scenarios where ''P'' is true and ''Q'' is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Combinatorial Game
Combinatorial game theory is a branch of mathematics and theoretical computer science that typically studies sequential games with perfect information. Study has been largely confined to two-player games that have a ''position'' that the players take turns changing in defined ways or ''moves'' to achieve a defined winning condition. Combinatorial game theory has not traditionally studied games of chance or those that use imperfect or incomplete information, favoring games that offer perfect information in which the state of the game and the set of available moves is always known by both players. However, as mathematical techniques advance, the types of game that can be mathematically analyzed expands, thus the boundaries of the field are ever changing. Scholars will generally define what they mean by a "game" at the beginning of a paper, and these definitions often vary as they are specific to the game being analyzed and are not meant to represent the entire scope of the field. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
