This refreshingly authoritative look at recreational mathematics illustrates winning strategies that use the methods of algebra, geometry, number theory, combinatorics, and graph theory. Its lucid analyses of the rules and theories of mathematical games include skill-enhancing exercises, in addition to detailed references, appendixes, and question-and-answer expositions that explain the basic theories.
Serious but not heavy-handed, this treatment covers games for one and two players, a theory of games, and rankings. Games in which chance plays a part, such as card games, are not...