Roland Percival Sprague (11 July 1894, Unterliederbach – 1 August 1967) was a German mathematician, known for the Sprague–Grundy theorem and for being the first mathematician to find a perfect squared square.

Biography

With two mathematicians,

Thomas Bond Sprague Thomas Bond Sprague FRSE FFA FIA LLD (29 March 1830 – 29 November 1920) was a British actuary, barrister and amateur mathematician who was the only person to have been President of both the Institute of Actuaries (1882–1886) in London a ...

and

Hermann Amandus Schwarz Karl Hermann Amandus Schwarz (; 25 January 1843 – 30 November 1921) was a German mathematician, known for his work in complex analysis. Life Schwarz was born in Hermsdorf, Silesia (now Jerzmanowa, Poland). In 1868 he married Marie Kumme ...

, as grandfathers, Roland Sprague was also a great-grandson of the mathematician Ernst Eduard Kummer and a great-grandson of the musical instrument maker Nathan Mendelssohn (1781–1852). After graduation (

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

) in 1912 from the Bismarck-Gymnasium in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Sprague studied from 1912 to 1919 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

with an interruption by military service from 1915 to 1918. In 1921 in Berlin he passed the state test for teaching in mathematics, chemistry, and physics. He was Studienassessor (probationary teacher at a secondary school) from 1922 at the Paulsen-Realgymnasium in

Berlin-Steglitz Steglitz () is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is a Slavic name for the European goldfinch, similar to the German . Steglitz was also a borough from 1920 to 2000. It contained the ...

and from 1924 at the Schiller-Gymnasium (temporarily named "Clausewitz-Schule") in

Berlin-Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

, where he became in 1925 Studienrat (teacher at a secondary school). In 1950 Sprague received a PhD under

Alexander Dinghas Alexander Dinghas (February 9, 1908 – April 19, 1974) was a Greek mathematician. Biography Dinghas was born on February 9, 1908, in Smyrna (now İzmir), Turkey. He did his schooling in Smyrna. He and his family moved to Athens in 1922. Dinghas ...

at the Freie Universität Berlin with dissertation ''Über die eindeutige Bestimmbarkeit der Elemente einer endlichen Menge durch zweifache Einteilung''. At the Pädagogische Hochschule Berlin, Sprague was from 1949

Dozent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

, from 1953 Oberstudienrat (senior teacher at a secondary school), and from 1955 Professor. Sprague is known for his contributions to recreational mathematics, especially the Sprague–Grundy function and its application to combinatorial games, which Sprague and

Patrick Michael Grundy Patrick Michael Grundy (16 November 1917, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight – 4 November 1959) was an English mathematician and statistician. He was one of the eponymous co-discoverers of the Sprague–Grundy function and its application to the analysi ...

discovered independently in 1935 and 1939 respectively. This result of Sprague's enabled mathematical strategies devised originally by Emanuel Lasker to be completed,

Jörg Bewersdorff Jörg Bewersdorff (born 1 February 1958 in Neuwied) is a German mathematician who is working as mathematics writer and game designer. Life and work After obtaining his ''Abitur'' from the Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium in Neuwied Bewersdorff studie ...

: ''Glück, Logik und Bluff: Mathematic im Spiel – Methoden, Ergebnisse und Grenzen'', Springer-Spektrum Verlag, 6th edition 2012, , doi:10.1007/978-3-8348-2319-9, pp. 120-126. and provided a method for calculating winning strategies for generalizations of the game of

Nim Nim is a mathematical two player game. Nim or NIM may also refer to: * Nim (programming language) * Nim Chimpsky, a signing chimpanzee Acronyms * Network Installation Manager, an IBM framework * Nuclear Instrumentation Module * Negative index met ...

Selected works

* ''Über mathematische Kampfspiele'', Tôhoku Mathematical Journal, vol. 41 (1935), pp. 438–444
Online-Version
. * ''Über zwei Abarten von Nim'', Tôhoku Mathematical Journal, vol. 43 (1937), pp. 451–454
Online-Version
. * ''Unterhaltsame Mathematik : Neue Probleme, überraschende Lösungen'', 2nd edition, 1969.

References

External links

20th-century German mathematicians Free University of Berlin alumni Game theorists 1894 births 1967 deaths {{Germany-mathematician-stub