COSAM lecturer's dice design solves board gaming's most surprisingly complex problem — who goes first?

2 months ago by ooli3 to c/tabletop_rpgs

A simple question about who goes first turned into a 15-year mathematical puzzle. Auburn COSAM senior lecturer Eric Harshbarger and researchers around the world developed a set of dice that eliminates ties while giving every player an equal chance of winning, then Harshbarger brought the math to life with a giant wooden sculpture for Auburn’s STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex.

Zachariah 12 points 2 months ago

“He said, ‘Hey Eric, you study math. Can you come up with a set of dice?’” said Harshbarger, a senior lecturer in Auburn University’s College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM). “Everyone can just arbitrarily grab one of the dice and roll to see who goes first. Highest will go first, but they will never tie.”

last part is what was actually solved

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OwOarchist 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah, lol -- I was wondering, isn't "roll for initiative" already a solved problem?

But you could always just have a second run-off roll if two characters happened to have a tie. It maybe takes a little bit longer, but you don't need a mathematician and special dice to figure that out.

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Dave 2 points 2 months ago

The article covers this.

Usually, everyone rolls a die. Highest number goes first. If two people roll the same number, they roll again.

His friend wondered whether he could eliminate that last step.

“There are plenty of ways to decide who goes first.”

Still, once the question was out there, Harshbarger wanted an answer.

“As with many, many math problems, who cares about the practicality?” he said. “Mathematically, this is a pretty interesting question.”

Basically, they get that it's not a massive problem that needs solving, but it was interesting mathmatically to try to do it anyway.

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