Buy used:
$98.99
FREE delivery Wednesday, July 3
Or fastest delivery Friday, June 28. Order within 12 hrs 22 mins
Used: Very Good | Details
Sold by Bookstop1
Fulfilled by Amazon
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comment: Book is in very good condition without any markings or folds. Book in Very Good Condition.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime.

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. Learn more about the program.

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Jörg Bewersdorff
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Luck, Logic, and White Lies: The Mathematics of Games

by Jörg Bewersdorff (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 6 ratings
See all formats and editions

There is a newer edition of this item:

Luck, Logic, and White Lies: The Mathematics of Games (AK Peters/CRC Recreational Mathematics Series)
Luck, Logic, and White Lies: The Mathematics of Games (AK Peters/CRC Recreational Mathematics Series)
$160.00
(1)
Usually ships within 9 to 10 days
This book considers a specific problem—generally a game or game fragment, and introduces the mathematical methods. It contains a section on the historical development of the theories of games of chance, and combinatorial and strategic games.
Previous slide of product details
  1. ISBN-10
    1568812108
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1568812106
  3. Publisher
    A K Peters/CRC Press
  4. Publication date
    December 10, 2004
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
  7. Print length
    504 pages
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Editorial Reviews

Review

" This book serves as an introduction to the mathematics of games. It seeks to show to the reader how it is that games have their power--how they manipulate chance, hidden information, and combinatorics... -Musings, Ramblings, and Things Left Unsaid, February 2005
most interesting and unique book, encompassing games of chance and games of perfect and imperfect information, stimulating and thought-provoking both to the sophisticated layman and to the well-informed expert."" -Aviezri Fraenkel, April 2005
in plain terms, Luck, Logic, and White Lies teaches readers of all backgrounds about the insight mathematical knowledge can bring and is highly recommended reading among avid game players, both to better understand the game itself and to improve one's skills."" -Midwest Book Review, April 2005
""Anyone who has ever tried to analyse a game mathematically knows that things can get very complicated very quickly..."" -Marianne Freiberger, Millennium Mathematics Project, University of Cambridge., May 2005
""The aim is to introduce the mathematics that will allow analysis of the problem or game. This is done in gentle stages, from chapter to chapter, so as to reach as broad an audience as possible. . . . Anyone who likes games and has a taste for analytical thinking will enjoy this book."" -Peter Fillmore, CMS Notes, May 2005
""The best book I've found for someone new to game math is Luck, Logic and White Lies by Jörg Bewersdorff. It introduces the reader to a vast mathematical literature, and does so in an enormously clear manner..."" -Alfred Wallace, Musings, Ramblings, and Things Left Unsaid, August 2005
""The book is well-written and can be recommended to all readers with interest in game theory."" -EMS Newsletter, June 2005
""He reviews the mathematical foundations, probability, combinatorics, and mathematical game theory, and emphasizes the implementation of these techniques so that players can put them to work immediately."" -L'Enseignement Mathematique, August 2005
""Ce Livre est bon. . . pour un coup d'oeil général sur le domaine, je ne pense pas qu'on puisse mieux trouver."" -Robert Bilinski, Lu pour vous, October 2005
""This book is a must for anyone interested in gaming... Students with an interest in mathematics will find this book to be of interest."" -Holly Flynn, E-Streams, August 2005
""I would recommend this book to high school and college teachers for their own enrichment, as a resource book for good students, and as a source for classroom activities."" -John Leamy, Mathematics Teacher, December 2005
""Translated (by David Kramer) from German, this book continues Martin Gardner's tradition of explaining how to play and to win at various mathematical games..."" -Paul J. Campbell, Look Smart, February 2006
""It is really good news that J. Bewersdorff's successful book has now, after the enthusiastic reviews of the previous three German editions been translated into English to reach the worldwide readership it deserves."" -Zentralblatt MATH, March 2006
""For anyone interested in what's really going on in games they play, this is an extremely interesting book. "" -January 2007
""This book is unusual in making the illustrative examples and the more technical and theoretical aspects of probability equally interesting and clear... What I liked particularly was the clarity, yet non-triviality of the examples used, leading to a well-founded understanding of these ideas."" -The Mathematical Gazette, November 2006
""The author (successfully) addresses a broad audience of readers interested in games."" -SpringerWienNewYork - Monatshefte fuer Mathematik, May 2008"

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ A K Peters/CRC Press (December 10, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 504 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1568812108
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1568812106
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.79 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Jörg Bewersdorff

Jörg Bewersdorff

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
We don’t use a simple average to calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star. Our system gives more weight to certain factors—including how recent the review is and if the reviewer bought it on Amazon. Learn more
6 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Peter Drake
3.0 out of 5 stars Of mixed clarity
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2009
The author begins in the preface by categorizing games by the source of uncertainty: chance, vast search space (combinatorial games like Chess and Go), or imperfect information (strategic games of the sort studied by economic game theory). He counts simultaneous move selection as imperfect information.

Some chapters are much clearer than others. For example, the opening chapters on elementary probability and the explanation of the minimax theorem are excellent, but the rapid handwaving explanation of how computer programs work is completely opaque. Some chapters flowed enjoyably, while in others I had to re-read paragraphs several times to extract the argument (not always successfully).

The chapters are fairly independent, so it is easy to skip material.

The author does investigate a wide range of games, including some relatively modern (i.e., post-1950) games.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
David J. Aldous
4.0 out of 5 stars Panoramic overview of the mathematics of games
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2012
One third concerns probability and games of chance, another third concerns "combinatorial games" (from Nim to Go and Chess) and the final third concerns "game-theoretic", i.e. strategy, games like rock-paper-scissors. Perhaps because the author is an actual game designer, this book has an interesting and unusual style that straddles several more familiar genres. The book is ``about the mathematics", so demands more concentration than many ``popular science" style books that just talk about math instead of engaging it. On the other hand it differs from textbooks in that the chapters (45 chapters averaging 10 pages) are somewhat independent, a wide cross-section of math ideas are mentioned and the math level varies between chapters. The reader should be willing to engage lower division level college math but is not required to have specific prior knowledge. Another non-standard feature is that there is some careful history -- the author has read some original works, not just copied textbook accounts of the history of the subject.

The first third (on probability and games of chance, my own main interest) discusses mostly standard topics from textbooks and popular science (Binomial distribution, expectation and standard deviation; law of large numbers and Normal approximation; Poison approximation; Monte Carlo simulations, chi-square test, Monty Hall, Buffon's needle, nontransitive dice) with some specific "games" applications (snakes-ladders and Monopoly as Markov chains; dice-races and Risk probabilities). But the enjoyably readable style makes this book more friendly than a typical textbook while more sophisticated than a typical popular science account such as  Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities .

The final third treats (mostly) two-person zero-sum game theory, presented as literal games. It goes through the minimax theory and details of math in concrete examples such as bluffing in poker. This is fine but seems curiously old-fashioned -- most could have been written 40 years ago. A more modern angle on game theory, exemplified by the popular book  Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life  would be to emphasize Nash equilibria and the interplay of cooperation and competition in non-zero-sum economic settings.

The middle third ("combinatorial games", with which I am least familiar) strikes me as the book's most distinctive contribution -- there is less existing literature at this level, and anyway there are so many such games that no two books should overlap much. These 15 chapters cover a lot of ground -- for instance Hex and "concentration" and Mastermind, as well as those mentioned earlier.

Summary: for the intellectually curious reader interested in "the mathematics of games" and not afraid of some actual math, this book has the rare virtue of being both wide-ranging and concrete -- concrete in the sense of dealing with real games. And the style makes it amenable to browsing rather than reading cover to cover. On the other hand I find it hard to judge the practical usefulness of the 26 pages of analysis of Go or the 13 pages on Blackjack. For the reader who has never played the game it is surely too much to take in, whereas the reader who has played and wants more mathematical analysis would surely prefer a dedicated book? The real theme of the book is how to start thinking mathematically about games in general, and I think it is as successful in tackling this theme as any book could be.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Joe J.
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb presenter of mathematics
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2007
This is a 500 page mathematical investigation of games using probability theory, game theory, and a variety of mathematical methods. The author finds winning strategies for many games, some of them surprisingly simple. For most games, the point is less to find a trick to win but to clearly explain how the game works and to answer some interesting questions. The author's ability to present mathematics in an understandable manner is possibly unsurpassed by any other writer.

In Chapter 16, entitled, "Games of Chance", the author presents an explanation of Markov chains and how they can be applied to Monopoly and to Chutes and Ladders. The explanation is clearer here than I have found elsewhere. The result of the calculation for Monopoly is two charts detailing the best investments in Monopoly. One chart ranks the monopolies according to how much rent income they will generate for the owner. The second chart ranks monopolies according to their return on investment or ROI, expected rent divided by cost. Thus we see, for example, that the highest rent comes from the green color group, Pennsylvania, and the best monopoly measured by ROI is the orange color group, New York. The author suggests these charts may be useful for deciding what properties to buy and where to buy houses.

The problem is that the results of the Markov chain calculation are not really useful for the important decisions Monopoly players must make. Players must buy nearly every ordinary property they land on in order to advance their chances of getting a monopoly and to block opponents from getting monopolies, so properties' ROIs and rents are almost completely irrelevant to the property buying decisions. After players trade properties, almost every player has one monopoly, not two or three or four, so the problem of deciding where to build the next house is not an issue...the player must put the house on his (lone) monopoly. Only after reaching the later stages of the game, usually after one of the players has been eliminated, do players have a choice about which monopoly to build out. Even in this regard, the chart is not useful. There is too much data to memorize and Monopoly culture discourages players from consulting charts in the middle of a game. Monopoly players bring snacks and drinks, but not charts.

The truly important decisions Monopoly players must make involve trading--which monopoly to take and which monopoly to allow an opponent to take. The data from a Markov chain calculation simply do not help much. What Monopoly players need to help them make this decision is the Monte Carlo method, which the book describes but does not apply toward Monopoly. A Monte Carlo simulation involves programming a computer to play the game, play the game thousands of times, and study what happened. This is exactly what I did for my Winning Monopoly book in 1987. A more detailed review of this book-at least, the portion dedicated to Monopoly-is posted on my web site, [...]
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report