The Mathematics of Games

by John D. Beasley

"Mind-exercising and thought-provoking."— New Scientist
If playing games is natural for humans, analyzing games is equally natural for mathematicians. Even the simplest of games involves the fundamentals of mathematics, such as figuring out the best move or the odds of a certain chance event. This entertaining and wide-ranging guide demonstrates how simple mathematical analysis can throw unexpected light on games of every type—games of chance, games of skill, games of chance and skill, and automatic games.
Just how random is a card shuffle or a throw of the dice? Is bluffing a valid poker strategy? How can you tell if a puzzle is unsolvable? How large a role does luck play in games like golf and soccer? This book examines each of these issues and many others, along with the general principles behind such classic puzzles as peg solitaire and Rubik's cube. Lucid, instructive, and full of surprises, it will fascinate mathematicians and gamesters alike.

Genres: Mathematics, Science

176 pages, Paperback

First published August 24, 1989

Reviews

[Richard]

Grabbed out of a stack of books from a retiring math teacher.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for better. Most of the games referred to aren’t particularly well known games, but rather easier games to analyze. I was also hoping this could be something my statistics students could read, but I don’t think most things were explained at a level they would comprehend.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I use this book to plan year end projects for my higher math classes. I also enjoyed it a lot.

[Bernardo Blue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I borrowed this from the university's library as part of my new "Let's read books about random academic topics" habit I'm trying to implement. And no, I'm not cheating - this book was in the Science Library, in the Mathematics section. On that topic: this book is not for the faint of heart. It's written by a mathematician, so you know you're in for some serious number crunching. But if you're up for a challenge, it's totally worth it.

The book covers a ton of different games, from classics like chess and poker to more obscure games like Nim and Hackenbush. Some of the games might not be super well-known, but I actually kinda liked that. It's cool to learn about new stuff, ya know?

That being said, there were definitely parts of the book that were a bit hard to understand. Like, sometimes Beasley would launch into a super complicated explanation of a game and I'd be like, "Wait, what? Can you run that by me again?"

But when the book was good, it was really good. The chess passages, in particular, were awesome. Beasley breaks down some classic chess games and shows you the mathematical principles behind them. It's seriously mind-blowing stuff.

One of my favorite passages from the book is when Beasley talks about the game of Go. Here's a sentence from that section that I thought was pretty cool:

"Go is like an onion - the more you peel away its layers, the more complex and beautiful it becomes."

[Christian Lindke]

Games,Game Design