Edit position

Last set 2 weeks, 2 days ago. Manual moves override automatic placement until the next shelfie/spine match.

Luck, logic, and white lies : the mathematics of games

by Jörg Bewersdorff

This volume explores the mathematical methods and historical evolution of games of chance, strategy, and combinations. The second edition features updated chapters and a new section dedicated to measuring skill levels in games.

Accession 9780367548414 ISBN 9780367548414 Publisher A K Peters/CRC Recreational Mathematics Series

Book Images

Reference and live side by side Hover to see live images

Reference

Luck, logic, and white lies : the mathematics of games spine

Luck, logic, and white lies : the mathematics of games cover

Live

CONNECTIONS

No connections

State

on_shelf: True
position_updated_at: 2026-05-05 17:11
orientation: vertical

Details

Physical

binding_type: Hard Back
dimensions: none captured
spine_text: Bewersdorff Luck, Logic, and White Lies A K Peters

LOCATION HISTORY

A 4 Current vertical

3 months, 1 week ago

A 4 vertical

5 months, 1 week ago

Book Location

Updated 2 weeks, 2 days ago

Book Images

Reference and live side by side Hover to see live images

Reference

Live

Vernon snapshot

Frozen copy of Vernon's record from the last sync. Fields tagged → flow back into the Pulse record.

Never synced from Vernon

Identity

name→ title

Luck, logic, and white lies : the mathematics of games

vernon_id

—

accession_no→ accession_number

—

vernon_slug

—

Drives Pulse state

curr_loc_status→ on_shelf

—

location_name

—

location_reason

—

isbn_issn→ isbn (when valid)

—

Descriptive

production_date

—

object_type

—

object_status

—

brief_description

—

Subjects & people

authors→ author (initial fill only)

—

tags→ tags

—

subject_people

—

subject_objects

—

Topics and Themes

1. **Probability Theory & Randomness**
Games of chance sit at the heart of the book, which develops probability theory to analyze them — covering distributions, the law of large numbers, Markov chains, Monte Carlo simulations, and the nature of randomness itself.

The book asks: what does it really mean for something to be random, and how can mathematics tame uncertainty? This connects probability from casino tables to everyday statistical reasoning.

Connect to books about: probability theory, statistics, randomness, stochastic processes, gambling mathematics.

---

2. **Game Theory & Strategic Decision-Making**
Strategic games — where players must reason about opponents' hidden intentions — are analyzed through formal game theory models originally developed to understand interactive, optimizing economic behavior.

The book frames bluffing and deception ("white lies") as mathematically tractable problems of rational choice under incomplete information, bridging recreational games and serious decision science.

Connect to books about: game theory, behavioral economics, rational choice theory, negotiation, decision science.

---

3. **Combinatorics & Combinatorial Games**
A major strand of the book treats games of pure skill and logic — chess, Go, Hex — through combinatorial methods, exploring how positions, moves, and outcomes can be systematically enumerated and evaluated.

The combinatorial game framework reveals the deep structural logic beneath games that appear to depend entirely on human intuition and creativity.

Connect to books about: combinatorics, discrete mathematics, chess theory, abstract strategy games, computational complexity.

---

4. **Skill vs. Chance: The Nature of Games**
A central organizing tension in the book is the spectrum between pure luck and pure skill, and how real games occupy positions along that spectrum. The taxonomy of games of chance, combinatorial games, and strategic games is used to map this landscape.

This theme invites reflection on fairness, agency, and what it means to be "good" at something — mathematically and philosophically.

Connect to books about: philosophy of sport, gambling studies, game design, psychology of competition, luck and meritocracy.

---

5. **Optimal Strategy & Decision-Making Under Uncertainty**
Throughout the book, the goal is not merely to describe games but to find optimal play — strategies that maximize winning probability or minimize loss, even when information is incomplete or outcomes are partly random.

This connects directly to operations research, financial risk, and any domain where rational agents must act without full knowledge of the future.

Connect to books about: operations research, risk management, behavioral decision theory, poker strategy, financial mathematics.

---

6. **Hidden Information, Bluffing & Imperfect Information**
The "white lies" of the title refer to strategic deception in games where players conceal information — poker being the paradigm case. The book treats this through the lens of imperfect-information game theory.

This theme bridges mathematics and psychology: how do rational agents act, and mislead, when they cannot see the full picture?

Connect to books about: poker and card game strategy, psychology of deception, information economics, mechanism design, negotiation.

---

7. **History & Philosophy of Mathematics Through Games**
The book traces how concrete games historically drove the development of entire branches of mathematics — probability theory emerging from gambling problems, game theory from parlor games and economics, combinatorics from puzzles.

Games are presented not as trivial diversions but as engines of mathematical discovery, giving the book a strong history-of-ideas dimension.

Connect to books about: history of mathematics, philosophy of mathematics, recreational mathematics, mathematical puzzles, popular mathematics.

---

8. **Applications Beyond Games: Economics, Biology & Social Science**
The mathematical tools developed for games — probability, game theory, combinatorics — are explicitly shown to apply far beyond play, extending to business strategy, evolutionary biology, economics, and sociology.

The book positions games as a sandbox for modeling competitive, uncertain, and strategic real-world interactions.

Connect to books about: evolutionary game theory, behavioral economics, social choice theory, mathematical modeling in social sciences, competition and cooperation.

Luck, logic, and white lies : the mathematics of games

Book Images

TAGS

CONNECTIONS

State

Details

LOCATION HISTORY

Book Location

Book Images

Vernon snapshot

Topics and Themes