Comments on: Could these have been the first computer games? http://www.mathemafrica.org/?p=11261 All about maths in Africa Tue, 31 May 2016 09:04:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.2 By: Tapiwa Chadenga http://www.mathemafrica.org/?p=11261#comment-298 Mon, 24 Aug 2015 14:09:42 +0000 http://www.mathemafrica.org/?p=11261#comment-298 Hi Jonathan, thank you for pointing that out, I have made the necessary corrections. The formula gives an upper approximation of possible states because it includes board conditions that will never occur in a real game; for example, you can never have a board state in which all pebbles are in a single pit. As for the simulation; it has been a matter of interest in artificial intelligence and algorithm analysis since the game was developed. In algorithm analysis, developers often choose between going for aggressive win strategies, or loss minimization strategies. I have tried to incorporate the best of both worlds (to some extent) in my version, so it should prove to be a worthy adversary. Enjoy.

]]> By: Jonathan Shock http://www.mathemafrica.org/?p=11261#comment-296 Sat, 22 Aug 2015 19:03:33 +0000 http://www.mathemafrica.org/?p=11261#comment-296 Many thanks Tapiwa!!

I have to say that the number of possible positions seems surprisingly small given this is a combinatoric expression. I would expect to find a factorial in there somewhere, rather than it simply to go linearly with most of the variables. I hope to be able to play this on a Windows computer when I track one down!

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