Enumerating Backgammon Positions: The Perfect Hash

Authors

Arthur T. Benjamin, Harvey Mudd CollegeFollow
Andrew M. Ross '96, Harvey Mudd College

Student Co-author

HMC Undergraduate

Document Type

Article

Department

Mathematics (HMC)

Publication Date

Spring 1997

Abstract

Like many games, people place money wagers on backgammon games. These wagers can change during the game. In order to make intelligent bets, one needs to know the chances of winning at any point in the game. We were working on this for positions near the end of the game when we needed to explicitly label each of the positions so the computer could refer to them. The labeling developed here uses the least possible amount of computer memory, is reasonably fast, and works well with a technique known as dynamic programming.

Comments

First published in Interface Journal - An Interdisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Research at Harvey Mudd College; vol. 16, no. 1, Spring 1997.

Rights Information

© 1997 Harvey Mudd College

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Recommended Citation

Benjamin, A.T, & Ross, A.M. (1997). Enumerating backgammon positions: the perfect hash. Interface, 16(1): 3-10.