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The Maths of Board Games

An episode of the Gresham College Lectures podcast, hosted by Gresham College, titled "The Maths of Board Games" was published on October 16, 2023 and runs 120 minutes.

October 16, 2023 ·120m · Gresham College Lectures

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Summary

Why are there chess Grandmasters, but not Grandmasters of noughts and crosses (otherwise known as tic-tac-toe)? It is because chess is “harder” – but what do we really mean by that? Answering that question leads us to develop the idea of mathematical complexity, which is a measure of how ‘big’ a game is. We’ll look at the complexity of popular games, and ask: what is the hardest game of all time? A lecture by Sarah Hart recorded on 10 October 2023 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London ...

Episode Description

Why are there chess Grandmasters, but not Grandmasters of noughts and crosses (otherwise known as tic-tac-toe)? It is because chess is “harder” – but what do we really mean by that? 

Answering that question leads us to develop the idea of mathematical complexity, which is a measure of how ‘big’ a game is. 

We’ll look at the complexity of popular games, and ask: what is the hardest game of all time?


A lecture by Sarah Hart recorded on 10 October 2023 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/maths-games

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