Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T04:01:30.080Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

33-Solitaire New Limits, Small and Large

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2016

Harry O. Davis*
Affiliation:
3147 N.E. 22nd Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97212, U.S.A.

Extract

No field of endeavour, trivial or non-trivial, escapes man’s quest for the superlatives—always the smallest or the largest, the fewest or the most is his goal. Whether this drive stems from a thirst for knowledge or a desire for leisure in which to pursue other work is a good question. In this massive and perpetual search for the ultimate a trivial game is no exception. No doubt a fantastic amount of time has been spent seeking to determine how many little counters could be arranged in a certain pattern, then this pattern re-arranged by jumping one unit over the other, removing the counter jumped, until the greatest number is lined up to be taken in a single move, or the pattern is reduced to a single unit with the fewest moves. Erom available published accounts, the single move limit has been 8 and the fewest moves have been 16 since this particular pattern called a 33-Solitaire board was conceived, the 33 referring to the number of spaces in this pattern.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Mathematical Association 1967 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)