Time+Place: Tuesday 21/03/2006 11:30 Room 337-8 Taub Bld.
Title: Tic-Tac-Toe Theory
Speaker: Jozsef Beck e-mail jbeck@math.rutgers.edu
Affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Rutgers University
Host: J.A. Makowsky

Abstract:

I just finished a book (Tic-Tac-Toe Theory) of more than 600
pages about combinatorial games, focusing on Tic-Tac-Toe-like games. I
will discuss the main theorems and techniques informally, attempting to
answer basic questions such as:

(1) Why are games so difficult?

(2) What are the hopeless problems?

(3) What cam contemporary combinatorics do?

(4) What are the surprising consequences of ``tic-tac-toe theory"?

I'll conclude by mentioning the most exciting open problems.