در مورد اعداد و بازی‌ها (مونوگرافی‌های L.M.S؛ شماره ۶)

ONAG, as the book is known, is one of those rare publications that sprang to life in a moment of creative energy and has remained influential for over a quarter of a century. Still in high demand, it is being republished with some adjustments and corrections. The original motivation for writing the book was an attempt to understand the relation between the theories of transfinite numbers and mathematical games. By defining numbers as the strengths of positions in certain games, the author arrives at a new class, the surreal numbers (so named by Donald Knuth) that includes at the same time the real numbers and the ordinal numbers. This new edition ends with an epilogue that sets the stage for further research on surreal numbers. The book is a must-have for all readers with a serious interest in the mathematical foundations of game strategies. Zeroth Part ... On Numbers. All Numbers Great And Small -- The Class No Is A Field -- The Real And Ordinal Numbers -- The Structure Of The General Number -- Algebra And Analysis Of Numbers -- Number Theory In The Land Of Oz -- The Curious Field On2 -- Appendix To Part Zero -- First Part ... And Games. Playing Several Games At Once -- Some Games Are Already Numbers -- On Games And Numbers -- Simplifying Games -- Impartial Games And The Game Of Nim -- How To Lose When You Must -- Animating Functions, Welter's Game And Hackenbush Unrestrained -- How To Play Several Games At Once In A Dozen Different Ways -- Ups, Downs And Bynumbers -- The Long And The Short And The Small. J. H. Conway. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 228-229. ONAG, as the book is known, is one of those rare publications that sprang to life in a moment of creative energy and has remained influential for over a quarter of a century. Still in high demand, it is being republished with some adjustments and corrections. The original motivation for writing the book was an attempt to understand the relation between the theories of transfinite numbers and mathematical games. By defining numbers as the strengths of positions in certain games, the author arrives at a new class, the surreal numbers (so named by Donald Knuth) that includes at the same time the real numbers and the ordinal numbers. [This is the original edition from 1976.]