
Lessons in Play
An Introduction to Combinatorial Game Theory
A K Peters (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 2. July 2007
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-56881-277-9 (ISBN)
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Description
Combinatorial games are games of pure strategy involving two players, with perfect information and no element of chance. Starting from the very basics of gameplay and strategy, the authors cover a wide range of topics, from game algebra to special classes of games. Classic techniques are introduced and applied in novel ways to analyze both old and new games, several appearing for the first time in this book.
Reviews / Votes
This is an excellent introductory book to beginning game theory, written in an easily understandable manner yet advanced enough not to be considered trivial.-Books Online, July 2007
The first book to present combinatorial game theory in the form of a textbook suitable for students at the advanced undergraduate level ... The authors state and prove theorems in a rigorous fashion [and] the presentation is enlivened with many concrete examples ... an outstanding textbook ... It will also be of interest to more advanced readers who want an introduction to combinatorial game theory.
-Brian Borchers, June 2007
The theory is accessible to any student who has a smattering of general algebra and discrete math. Generally, a third year college student, but any good high school student should be able to follow the development with a little help.
-Sir Read a Lot, May 2007
Lessons in Play is an enticing introduction to the wonderful world of combinatorial games. Using a rich collection of cleverly captivating examples and problems, the authors lead the reader through the basic concepts and on to several innovative extensions. I highly recommend this book.
-Elwyn R. Berlekamp
A neat machine, converting novices into enthusiastic experts in modern combinatorial game theory.
-Aviezri Fraenkel
Combinatorial games are intriguing, challenging, and often counter-intuitive, and are rapidly being recognized as an important mathematical discipline. Now that we have the attractive and friendly text Lessons in Play in hand, we can look forward to the appearance of many popular upper-division undergraduate courses, which encourage instructors to learn alongside their students.
-Richard K. Guy
... If you have Winning Ways, you must have this book.
-Andy Liu
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Natick
United States
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Inc
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
716 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-56881-277-9 (9781568812779)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions

Michael Albert | Richard Nowakowski | David Wolfe
Lessons in Play
An Introduction to Combinatorial Game Theory, Second Edition
Book
04/2019
2nd Edition
Apple Academic Press Inc.
€104.50
Article not available for order
Persons
Michael H. Albert is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Previously he held positions at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Waterloo. He has authored many papers in game theory. Richard J. Nowakowski was born in Barnsley, England on March 29, 1952. He has been a professor at Dalhousie University since 1992. He has published over 75 papers in combinatorial game theory and graph theory as well as editing the proceedings of five combinatorial game theory conferences. David Wolfe received his Ph.D. in computer science from University of California, Berkeley in 1991 and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University in 1985. Since 1996 he has been an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Author
University of Otago, Dundedin, New Zealand
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada