Student Combinatorics Seminar

In combinatorial game theory, we can study the sate of a game by looking at its associated nimber. Nimbers, or Grundy numbers, have their own arithmetic rules and the nimber value of a game state is determined by the nimbers of the next states. So we can determine the nimber of any game position by a backward induction process. The function that associates to each state of a game its nimber is called the Sprague-Grundy function. These functions can be mysterious and in general it is unknown if they are periodic or even how many zeros they have! These talk will be a fun introduction to combinatorial game theory, no background assumed. Speaker(s): Francesca Gandini (University of Michigan)