ISBN 9780367552961
May 24, 2021 Forthcoming by A K Peters/CRC Press
574 Pages 80 B/W Illustrations
"Luck, Logic, and White Lies teaches readers of all backgrounds about the insight mathematical knowledge can bring and is highly recommended reading among avid game players, both to better understand the game itself and to improve onefs skills."
? Midwest Book Review
"The best book I've found for someone new to game math is Luck, Logic and White Lies by Jorg Bewersdorff. It introduces the reader to a vast mathematical literature, and does so in an enormously clear manner. . ."
? Alfred Wallace, Musings, Ramblings, and Things Left Unsaid
"The aim is to introduce the mathematics that will allow analysis of the problem or game. This is done in gentle stages, from chapter to chapter, so as to reach as broad an audience as possible . . . Anyone who likes games and has a taste for analytical thinking will enjoy this book."
? Peter Fillmore, CMS Notes
Luck, Logic, and White Lies: The Mathematics of Games, Second Edition considers a specific problem?generally a game or game fragment and introduces the related mathematical methods. It contains a section on the historical development of the theories of games of chance, and combinatorial and strategic games.
This new edition features new and much refreshed chapters, including an all-new Part IV on the problem of how to measure skill in games. Readers are also introduced to new references and techniques developed since the previous edition.
Provides a uniquely historical perspective on the mathematical underpinnings of a comprehensive list of games
Suitable for a broad audience of differing mathematical levels. Anyone with a passion for games, game theory, and mathematics will enjoy this book, whether they be students, academics, or game enthusiasts
Covers a wide selection of topics at a level that can be appreciated on a historical, recreational, and mathematical level.@
Jorg Bewersdorff (1958) studied mathematics from 1975 to 1982 at the University of Bonn and earned his PhD in 1985. In the same year, he started his career as game developer and mathematician. He served as the general manager of the subsidiaries of Gauselmann AG for more than two decades where he developed electronic gaming machines, automatic payment machines, and coin-operated Internet terminals.
Dr. Bewersdorff has authored several books on Galois theory (translated in English and Korean), mathematical statistics, and object-oriented programming with JavaScript.
I. Games of Chance. 1. Dice and Probability. 2. Waiting for a Double. 3. Tips on Playing the Lottery: More Equal Than Equal? 4. A Fair Division: But How? 5. The Red and the Black: The Law of Large Numbers. 6. Asymmetric Dice: Are They Worth Anything? 7. Probability and Geometry. 8. Chance and Mathematical Certainty: Are They Reconcilable? 9. In Quest of the Equiprobable. 10. Winning the Game: Probability and Value. 11. Which Die Is Best? 12. A Die Is Tested. 13. The Normal Distribution: A Race to the Finish! 14. And Not Only at Roulette: The Poisson Distribution. 15. When Formulas Become Too Complex: The Monte Carlo Method. 16. Markov Chains and the Game Monopoly. 17 Blackjack: A Las Vegas Fairy Tale. II. Combinatorial Games. 18. Which Move Is Best? 19. Chances of Winning and Symmetry. 20. A Game for Three. 21. Nim: The Easy Winner! 22. Lasker Nim: Winning Along a Secret Path. 23. Black-and-White Nim: To Each His (or Her) Own. 24. A Game with Dominoes: Have We Run Out of Space Yet? 25. Go: A Classical Game with a Modern Theory. 26. Misere Games: Loser Wins! 27. The Computer as Game Partner. 28. Can Winning Prospects Always Be Determined? 29. Games and Complexity: When Calculations Take Too Long. 30. A Good Memory and Luck: And Nothing Else? 31. Backgammon: To Double or Not to Double? 32. Mastermind: Playing It Safe. III. Strategic Games. 33. Rock?Paper?Scissors: The Enemy's Unknown Plan. 34. Minimax Versus Psychology: Even in Poker? 35. Bluffing in Poker: Can It Be Done Without Psychology? 36. Symmetric Games: Disadvantages Are Avoidable, but How? 37. Minimax and Linear Optimization: As Simple as Can Be. 38. Play It Again, Sam: Does Experience Make Us Wiser? 39. Le Her: Should I Exchange? 40. Deciding at Random: But How? 41. Optimal Play: Planning Efficiently. 42. Baccarat: Draw from a Five? 43. Three-Person Poker: Is It a Matter of Trust? 44 QUAAK! Child's Play? 45 Mastermind: Color Codes and Minimax. 46. A Car, Two Goats?and a Quizmaster. IV. Epilogue: Chance, Skill, and Symmetry. 47. A Player's Inuence and Its Limits. 48. Games of Chance and Games of Skill. 49. In Quest of a Measure. 50. Measuring the Proportion of Skill. 51. Poker: The Hotly Debated Issue.
Inequalities are often found in mathematics competitions, but their beauty and applications go well beyond that. This book delves into elementary techniques but also powerful methods and generalizations for constrained optimization in the theory of inequalities. The 100 examples featured in the first part of the book were chosen in such a way as to contribute to a thorough exposure and insightful analysis of the concepts presented. Many of the problems presented, from introductory to advanced levels, were created by the authors and presented with multiple solutions.
This book is best suited for motivated high school and college students, teachers, or anyone with a passion for mathematics.
XYZ Series, Volume: 39
2021; 335 pp; Hardcover
MSC: Primary 00; 97;
Print ISBN: 978-1-7358315-0-3
The Mathematical Reflections series is a compilation of problems, solutions, and articles submitted to the online journal of the same name by passionate readers from all over the world. Students and instructors alike will broaden their horizons and be introduced to material outside the scope of most classes and, because problems are submitted from all over the world, offer a global view of problem solving leading to invaluable moments of discovery. This book is a great resource for students training for advanced national and international mathematics competitions such as USAMO and IMO.
This book is a great resource for students training for advanced national and international mathematics competitions such as USAMO and IMO.
XYZ Series Volume: 40
2021; 551 pp; Hardcover
MSC: Primary 00; 97;
Print ISBN: 978-0-9993428-9-3
Product Code: XYZ/40
This book formulates a new conjecture about quadratic periods of automorphic forms on quaternion algebras, which is an integral refinement of Shimura's algebraicity conjectures on these periods. It also provides a strategy to attack this conjecture by reformulating it in terms of integrality properties of the theta correspondence for quaternionic unitary groups. The methods and constructions of the book are expected to have applications to other problems related to periods, such as the Bloch-Beilinson conjecture about special values of L-functions and constructing geometric realizations of Langlands functoriality for automorphic forms on quaternion algebras.
Graduate students and research mathematicians interested in number theory, automorphic forms, Shimura varieties, and L-functions.
Contemporary Mathematics Volume: 762
2021; 214 pp; Softcover
MSC: Primary 11;
Print ISBN: 978-1-4704-4894-3
Not yet published
Expected publication date March 10, 2021
This book is the ninth volume in a series whose goal is to furnish a careful and largely self-contained proof of the classification theorem for the finite simple groups. Having completed the classification of the simple groups of odd type as well as the classification of the simple groups of generic even type (modulo uniqueness theorems to appear later), the current volume begins the classification of the finite simple groups of special even type. The principal result of this volume is a classification of the groups of bicharacteristic type, i.e., of both even type and of p-type for a suitable odd prime p. It is here that the largest sporadic groups emerge, namely the Monster, the Baby Monster, the largest Conway group, and the three Fischer groups, along with six finite groups of Lie type over small fields, several of which play a major role as subgroups or sections of these sporadic groups.
Readership
Graduate students and researchers interested in the theory of finite groups.
Mathematical Surveys and Monographs Volume: 40
2021; 520 pp; Softcover
MSC: Primary 20;
Print ISBN: 978-1-4704-6437-0
Product Code: SURV/40.9
Not yet published
Expected publication date April 3, 2021
Nonlinear algebra provides modern mathematical tools to address challenges arising in the sciences and engineering. It is useful everywhere, where polynomials appear: in particular, data and computational sciences, statistics, physics, optimization. The book offers an invitation to this broad and fast-developing area. It is not an extensive encyclopedia of known results, but rather a first introduction to the subject, allowing the reader to enter into more advanced topics. It was designed as the next step after linear algebra and well before abstract algebraic geometry. The book presents both classical topics?like the Nullstellensatz and primary decomposition?and more modern ones?like tropical geometry and semidefinite programming. The focus lies on interactions and applications. Each of the thirteen chapters introduces fundamental concepts. The book may be used for a one-semester course, and the over 200 exercises will help the readers to deepen their understanding of the subject.
Graduate students and researchers interested in nonlinear algebra.
Graduate Studies in Mathematics, Volume: 211
2021; 226 pp; Hardcover
MSC: Primary 05; 13; 14; 15; 20; 52; 90;
Print ISBN: 978-1-4704-5367-1
Product Code: GSM/211
Not yet published
Expected publication date April 4, 2021
This volume contains the proceedings of the workshop Crossing the Walls in Enumerative Geometry, held in May 2018 at Snowbird, Utah. It features a collection of both expository and research articles about mirror symmetry, quantized singularity theory (FJRW theory), and the gauged linear sigma model.
Most of the expository works are based on introductory lecture series given at the workshop and provide an approachable introduction for graduate students to some fundamental topics in mirror symmetry and singularity theory, including quasimaps, localization, the gauged linear sigma model (GLSM), virtual classes, cosection localization, p-fields, and Saito's primitive forms. These articles help readers bridge the gap from the standard graduate curriculum in algebraic geometry to exciting cutting-edge research in the field.
The volume also contains several research articles by leading researchers, showcasing new developments in the field.
Graduate students and research mathematicians interested in enumerative geometry, singularity theory, and the relations between algebraic geometry and mathematical physics.
Contemporary Mathematics, Volume: 763
2021; 203 pp; Softcover
MSC: Primary 14; Secondary 53; 32
Print ISBN: 978-1-4704-5700-6
Product Code: CONM/763
Not yet published
Expected publication date April 24, 2021