Chapter 1: GAMES Students enjoy playing games. Whether the mathematics behind the game is simple or complicated, the chance for social interaction and for controlled competition will help to break up any routine patterns in school life. At the same time, these problems hold a lot of content, and students frequently find their solution quite difficult. The chief difficulties consist first in articulating the winning strategy. and second in proving that the strategy considered always leads to a win, In surmounting, these difficulties, students will learn more about accepted standards of mathematical argument, and will refine their understanding of what it means to solve a problem, Th ‘many types of games considered in mathematics, and many types of game theories. This chapter considers only one type. In each of these games, there are two players who take turns making moves, and a player cannot decline to move. The problem is always the same: to find out which player (the first or the second) has a winning strategy. e are 1, Pseudo-games: Games that are jokes The first class of games we examine are games that turn out to be jokes. The outcomes of these pseudo-games do not depend on how the play proceeds. For this reason, the solution of such a pseudo-game does not consist of a winning strategy, but of a proof that one or the other of the two players will always win (regardless of how the play proceeds!) Problem: 1 Two children take turns breaking up a rectangular chocolate bar 6 squares wide by 8 squares long. They may break the bar only along the divisions between the squares. If the bar breaks into several pieces, they keep breaking the pieces up until only the individual squares remain, ‘The player who cannot make a break loses the game, Who will win? Problem: 2 ‘There are three piles of stones: one with 10 stones, one with 15 stones, and one with 20 stones. At each tum, a player can choose one of the piles and divide it into two smaller piles. ‘The loser is the, player who cannot do this. Who will win, and how? Problem: 3 ‘The numbers | through 20 are written in a row, Two players take turns putting plus signs and ‘minus signs between the numbers, When all such signs have been placed, the .resulting expression is evaluated (Le., the additions and subtractions are performed). The first: player ‘wins if the sum is even, and the second wins if the sum is odd. Who will win and how? Problem: 4 Two players take turns placing rooks (castles) on a chessboard so that they cannot capture each other. The loser is the player who cannot place a castle. Who will win? Problem: 5 ‘Ten I's and ten 2's are written on a blackboard. In one turn, a player may erase any two figures. If the two figures erased are identical, they are replaced with a 2. If they are different, they are replaced with a 1. The first player wins if'a 1 is left at the end, and the second player wins if'a 2 is left2. Symmetry Problem: 6 Two players take turns putting pennies on a round table, without piling one penny on top of another. The player who cannot place a penny loses. Problem: 7 ‘Two players take turns placing bishops on the squares of a chessboard, so that they cannot capture each other (the bishops may be placed on squares of any color). The player who cannot move loses Problem: 8 There are two piles of 7 stones each. At each turn, a player may take as many stones as he chooses, but only from one of the piles. The loser is the player who cannot move Problem: 9 ‘Two players take turns placing knights on the squares of a chessboard, so that no knight can take another. The player who is unable to do this loses. Problem: 10 ‘Two players take turns placing kings on the squares of a 9 x 9 chessboard, so that no king can capture another. The player who is unable to do this loses. Problem: 11 ‘There are two piles of stones. One has 30 stones, and the other has 20 stones. Players take turns removing as many stones as they please, but from one pile only. The player removing the last stone wins Problem: 12 ‘Twenty points are placed around a circle, Players take turns joining two of the points with a line segme~t which does not cross a segment already drawn in. The player who cannot do so loses, 3. Winning positions Problem: 13 On a chessboard, a rook stands on square al. Players take turns moving the rook as many squares as they want, either horizontally to the right or vertically upward. The player who can place the rook on square h8 wins. Problem: 14 A king is placed on square a/ of a chessboard, Players take turns moving the king either upwards, to the right, or along a diagonal going upwards and to the right. The player who places the king on square A8 is the winner. Problem: 15 ‘There are two piles of candy. One contains 20 pieces, and the other 21. Players take tums cating all the candy in one pile, and separating the remaining candy into two (not necessarily equal) non-empty piles. The player who cannot move loses.Problem: 16 A checker is placed at each end of a strip of squares measuring 1 x 20, Players take turns moving either checker in the direction of the other, each by one or by two squares. A checker cannot jump over another checker. The player who cannot move loses. 4, Analysis from the endgame: A method of finding winning positions By studying previous sections, one may get the feeling that the discovery of a set of winning positions is based only on intuition, and is therefore not simple, We now describe a general ‘method which will allow us to find a set of winning positions in many games. We return to Problem 14, the problem about the single king on a chessboard, Let us try to find a set of ‘winning positions. As always, the final position of the game, with the king in square h8, must be a winning one. We therefore place a phis sign in square A$ (see Figure 1). We will place the same sign in every other square at which the king occupies a winning position and a ‘minus sign in every square which is not a winning position (we will call them losing positions). #4 Figure: Since those squares from which the king can move to a winning square in a single move are losing squares, we arrive at Figure 2. From squares h6 and jS we can move only to losing squares, so these must be winning positions (Figure 4S). These new winning positions lead to new losing positions: AS, 25, g6, j7, e7, eS (Figure 4). We continue in an analogous fashion (see Figures 5 and 6). After obtaining a set of minuses, we place plus signs in those squares from which any move at all leads to a losing square, then place minuses in those squares from hich there is at least one move to a winning square. The pluses and minuses will finally be arranged as in Figure 7. It is not difficult to see that the squares with plus signs in them are exactly the winning squares indicated in the previous section. =e CEH igure: 3 igure: 5 Figure: 6‘The method of finding winning positions just described is called analysis from the endgame. Working as in Figures 8 and 9, we soon arrive at Figure 10, Problem: 17 ‘A queen stands on square c1 of a chessboard. Players take turns moving the queen any ‘number of squares to the right, upwards, or along a diagonal to the right and upwards. The player who can place the queen in square 8 wins. Solutions