The Maths of Board Games

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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