Combinatorial Games - József Beck

Combinatorial Games

Tic-Tac-Toe Theory

(Autor)

Buch | Hardcover
748 Seiten
2008
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-0-521-46100-9 (ISBN)
209,95 inkl. MwSt
In this comprehensive volume, József Beck shows readers how to escape from the combinatorial chaos arising in the analysis of many games by using the fake probabilistic method, a game-theoretic adaptation of the probabilistic method in combinatorics. Striking results are obtained and new duality principles discovered.
Traditional game theory has been successful at developing strategy in games of incomplete information: when one player knows something that the other does not. But it has little to say about games of complete information, for example, tic-tac-toe, solitaire and hex. The main challenge of combinatorial game theory is to handle combinatorial chaos, where brute force study is impractical. In this comprehensive volume, József Beck shows readers how to escape from the combinatorial chaos via the fake probabilistic method, a game-theoretic adaptation of the probabilistic method in combinatorics. Using this, the author is able to determine the exact results about infinite classes of many games, leading to the discovery of some striking new duality principles. Available for the first time in paperback, it includes a new appendix to address the results that have appeared since the book's original publication.

József Beck is a Professor in the Mathematics Department of Rutgers University. He has received the Fulkerson Prize for Research in Discrete Mathematics and has written around 100 research publications. He is the co-author, with W. L. Chen, of the pioneering monograph Irregularities of Distribution.

Preface; A summary of the book in a nutshell; Part I. Weak Win and Strong Draw: 1. Win vs. weak win; 2. The main result: exact solutions for infinite classes of games; Part II. Basic Potential Technique – Game-Theoretic First and Second Moments: 3. Simple applications; 4. Games and randomness; Part III. Advanced Weak Win – Game-Theoretic Higher Moment: 5. Self-improving potentials; 6. What is the Biased Meta-Conjecture, and why is it so difficult?; Part IV. Advanced Strong Draw – Game-Theoretic Independence: 7. BigGame-SmallGame decomposition; 8. Advanced decomposition; 9. Game-theoretic lattice-numbers; 10. Conclusion; Appendix A. Ramsey numbers; Appendix B. Hales–Jewett theorem: Shelah's proof; Appendix C. A formal treatment of positional games; Appendix D. An informal introduction to game theory; Appendix E. New results; Complete list of the open problems; What kinds of games? A dictionary; Dictionary of the phrases and concepts; References.

Erscheint lt. Verlag 20.3.2008
Reihe/Serie Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications
Zusatzinfo Worked examples or Exercises; 170 Line drawings, unspecified
Verlagsort Cambridge
Sprache englisch
Maße 164 x 237 mm
Gewicht 1210 g
Themenwelt Mathematik / Informatik Mathematik Allgemeines / Lexika
Mathematik / Informatik Mathematik Angewandte Mathematik
Mathematik / Informatik Mathematik Finanz- / Wirtschaftsmathematik
Mathematik / Informatik Mathematik Graphentheorie
ISBN-10 0-521-46100-6 / 0521461006
ISBN-13 978-0-521-46100-9 / 9780521461009
Zustand Neuware
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt?
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich