Portland Public Library

Power-up, unlocking the hidden mathematics in video games, Matthew Lane

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 244-272) and index

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

Power-up

bibliography

958799398

Matthew Lane

unlocking the hidden mathematics in video games

"Did you know that every time you pick up the controller to your PlayStation or Xbox, you are entering a game world steeped in mathematics? Power-Up reveals the hidden mathematics in many of today's most popular video games and explains why mathematical learning doesn't just happen in the classroom or from books--you're doing it without even realizing it when you play games on your cell phone. In this lively and entertaining book, Matthew Lane discusses how gamers are engaging with the traveling salesman problem when they play Assassin's Creed, why it is mathematically impossible for Mario to jump through the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario Bros., and how The Sims teaches us the mathematical costs of maintaining relationships. He looks at mathematical pursuit problems in classic games like Missile Command and Ms. Pac-Man, and how each time you play Tetris, you're grappling with one of the most famous unsolved problems in all of mathematics and computer science. Along the way, Lane discusses why Family Feud and Pictionary make for ho-hum video games, how realism in video games (or the lack of it) influences learning, what video games can teach us about the mathematics of voting, the mathematics of designing video games, and much more. Power-Up shows how the world of video games is an unexpectedly rich medium for learning about the beautiful mathematical ideas that touch all aspects of our lives--including our virtual ones"--Dust jacket

Let’s get physical : Platforming perils ; Platforming in three dimensions ; LittleBigPlanet: exploring physics through gameplay ; From 2D to 3D: bending laws in Portal ; Exploring reality with A Slower Speed of Light ; Exploring alternative realities ; Beyond physics: Minecraft or mine field? -- Repeat offenders : Let’s play the feud! ; Game shows and birthdays ; Beyond the first duplicate ; The draw something debacle ; Delayed repetition: increasing N ; Delayed repetition: weight lifting ; The completionist’s dilemma -- Get out the voting system : Everybody votes, but not for everything ; Plurality voting: an example ; Ranked-choice voting systems and arrow’s impossibility theorem ; An escape from impossibility? ; Is there a zbesty system? ; What game developers know that politicians don’t ; The best of the rest -- Knowing the score : Ranking players ; Orisinal original ; What’s in a score? ; Threes! company ; A mathematical model of Threes! ; Invalid scores ; Lowest of the low ; Highest of the high -- The thrill of the chase : I’ma gonna win! ; Shell games ; Green-shelled monsters ; Generalizations and limitations ; Seeing red ; Apollonius circle pursuit ; Overview of a winning strategy ; Pinpointing the intersections ; Blast radius ; The pursuer and pursued in Ms. Pac-Man -- Gaming complexity : From Russia with fun ; P, NP, and Kevin Bacon ; Desktop diversions ; Platforming problems ; Fetch quests: an overview ; Fetch quests and traveling salesmen -- The friendship realm : Taking it to the next level ; Friendship as gameplay: the Sims and beyond ; A game-inspired friendship model ; Approximations to the model ; The cost of maintaining a friendship ; From virtual friends to realistic romance ; Modeling different personalities ; Improving the model (again!) -- Order in chaos : The essence of chaos ; Love in the time of chaos ; Shell games revisited ; How’s the weather? -- The value of games : More important than math ; Why games? ; What next?

Power upUnlocking the hidden mathematics in video games