Daisies, Kayles, and the Sibert-Conway decomposition in misère octal games (Q1184991): Difference between revisions

\textit{W. L. Sibert} and \textit{J. H. Conway} [Int. J. Game Theory 20, No. 3, 237-246 (1992; Zbl 0756.90107)] have solved a long-standing open problem in combinatorial game theory by giving an efficient algorithm for the winning misère play of Kayles, an impartial two-player game of complete information first described over 75 years ago by \textit{H. E. Dudeney} [``Canterbury puzzles'' (London 1910), p. 118, p. 120] and \textit{S. Loyd} [``Cyclopedia of tricks and puzzles'' (New York 1914), p. 232]. Introducing weight functions, the author here extends the methods of Sibert and Conway and constructs a similar winning strategy for the game of Daisies (octal code \(4\cdot 7\)), and then more generally solves all misère play finite octal games with at most 3 code digits and period two nim sequence \(*1,*2,*1,*2,\dots\).