The Mathematics of Games and Puzzles: From Cards to Sudoku

Description

For thousands of years, games and puzzles have been an enjoyable and rewarding aspect of human civilization. They tease our brains. They challenge our memories. They strengthen our competitive skills. And whether it’s chess, poker, or Sudoku, most games have this in common: Everything you need to win is rooted in mathematics.

Using nothing more than a simple grasp of math, you can discover optimal ways to win games and solve puzzles with the speed and accuracy of professional players—many of whom attribute their professional gaming success to mathematical strategies. By using math as a unique lens through which to explore some of the world’s most popular games, you’ll

• improve the ways you win games and solve puzzles;
• better understand exciting concepts in everything from algebra to probability to game theory;
• make better decisions and take calculated risks in personal investing and other real-world situations;
• keep your mind active and sharp at any age; and, perhaps best of all,
• discover whole new levels of enjoyment with games you only thought you knew how to play.

Join award-winning Professor Arthur T. Benjamin—one of The Great Courses’ most popular instructors and a veritable mathemagician at making math enjoyable for everyone—for an in-depth look at new, better, more math-oriented ways to play and win games in The Mathematics of Games and Puzzles: From Cards to Sudoku. In just twelve 45-minute lessons, you’ll learn a rewarding set of skills you can apply to countless games and puzzles, whether you’re playing them in your living room or in a crowded casino. You’ll also learn that behind even the simplest games lies proof of just how beautiful and far-reaching mathematics is in your everyday life.

A Math-Centric Way to Play Games

With the same characteristic excitement that has won him the acclaim of countless of our lifelong learners, Professor Benjamin covers a range of games, puzzles, and brainteasers that we’ve all played, tried to play, or wanted to play at some point.

• Zero-sum games: Many of the most popular games are what mathematicians and strategists call zero-sum games, or contests against an intelligent adversary whose aims oppose yours. Alongside Professor Benjamin, you’ll uncover math-centric, proven ways to succeed at backgammon, poker, and even a simple game of rock-paper-scissors.
• Games of chance: Many of us are intimidated by casino games. And if we’re not, we’re always looking for ways to stay ahead of our opponents. In addition to revealing the surprising math behind roulette, craps, video poker, blackjack, and more, Professor Benjamin offers invaluable tips on improving the way you bluff, wager, and count cards.
• Classic puzzles and brainteasers: Whether it’s Sudoku, peg solitaire, or even a Rubik’s Cube, puzzles can be as frustrating as they are entertaining. What math tools can help you fill a Sudoku grid without ever guessing? How can you solve a Rubik’s Cube as if it were second nature? Find out all this and more in several lectures devoted to mastering puzzling challenges.

The Mathematics of Games and Puzzles takes an elementary mathematical approach to understanding how each game and puzzle is played and won. While the mathematics in this course is detailed, Professor Benjamin always makes sure to break down the complexity into simple language that anyone eager to learn can grasp.

Discover the Tips and Tricks of Champions

These lessons are also packed with dozens of specific tips, tricks, strategies, and methodologies for getting the best of your opponents, improving your technique, increasing your chances of winning, and much more. You’ll get an invaluable toolkit to take with you every time you’re at a poker table, in front of a chess board, or reading the morning newspaper.

• When should you hit or stand in blackjack? If the dealer’s up-card is 7 or higher, then hit until your total is 17 or higher. If the up-card is 4, 5, or 6, then take no chances—not even when your total is 12.
• In the poker game of Texas Hold’em, being dealt an ace-king is a strong hand, but it still loses to randomly dealt hands about one-third of the time. It even loses to a pair of deuces 53% of the time.
• Frustrated with a Sudoku grid? Look for hidden singles (numbers that can only find one place to go in a row, column, or box). When you find a number with only two possible squares in a box, lightly pencil that number in both places and use it to try to solve other trouble spots.

Professor Benjamin’s lessons are filled with strategies like these; some for an entire game, others for a particular scenario, many of them straight from champion players. In putting this course together, he consulted with experts (including some world champions) at backgammon, poker, chess, Rubik’s Cube, and Sudoku, along with professionals in the casino gaming industry.

Improve Your Odds of Becoming a Winner

With this course, you’ll find yourself in the hands of a master instructor. Professor Benjamin is a past winner of the American Backgammon Tour and a firm believer that learning math should be just as fun and enjoyable as playing games. You’ll quickly see why Professor Benjamin has won three awards from the Mathematical Association of America, and why Reader’s Digest named him “America’s Best Math Whiz.”

And with the aid of helpful exercises and problems, detailed explanations of mathematical reasoning, visual breakdowns and animations of specific techniques, and more, you’ll find yourself eager to play along with Professor Benjamin and to return to these lectures any time you get the urge to play a game.

Insightful and entertaining, The Mathematics of Games and Puzzles is a fun-filled opportunity to engage with math, strengthen your mental skills, and increase the chances that the next time someone asks you if you’re up for a game, you’ll come out a winner.

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