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Instructor: Prof. Lincoln Lu Office: LC 400I, email: lu@math.sc.edu Office hours: MW 1:30PM-3:00PM, or by appointment. Lecture time: MWF 12:20PM-1:10PM at LC 303B (locaton changed!) Credit Hours: 3 |
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Lecture and homework
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Prerequisite: MATH 526, MATH 544 OR MATH 574
Textbook: Winning ways for your mathematical plays (vol I), second edition, by Berlekamp, Conway, and Guy published by A K Peters, Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Learning outcomes: Through this course, students learn the winning strategy in in certain combinatorial games such as Nim, Hackenbush, and Domineering. They will learn equalities and inequalities among games, Sprague-Grundy theory of impartial games, games which are numbers. We shall cover most parts of the textbook and some supplemental material.
Homework: Homework will be assigned roughly every other week and should be completed and be collected by next Wednesday.
Reading: Reading the sections of the textbook corresponding to the assigned homework exercises is considered part of the homework assignment.
Exams: There will be two exams given during lecture time. The first exam is scheduled on Feb. 19. The second exam is scheduled on Apr. 8. The actual exam dates are subject to be changed.
Final project: There is no final exam for this class. Instead, we will have a take-home final project, which is due on April 30th.
Grading: The homework is 30%. The first exam is 20%. The second exam is 20%. The final project is 30%. Your final grade is based on the percentage as follows.
Grading Scale
| Grading Scale: | 90-100% A |
76-79% C+ |
60-65% D |
86-89% B+ |
70-75% C |
0-59% F |
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| 80-85% B |
66-69% D+ |
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Peg Solitaire
Rubik's Cube