Computational Complexity
The number of legal positions in English draughts is estimated to be 1020, and it has a game-tree complexity of approximately 1040. By comparison, chess is estimated to have between 1043 and 1050 legal positions.
When draughts is generalized so that it can be played on an n-by-n board, the problem of determining if the first player has a win in a given position is EXPTIME-complete.
The July 2007 announcement by Chinook's team stating that the game had been solved must be understood in the sense that, with perfect play on both sides, the game will always finish with a draw. Yet, not all positions that could result from imperfect play have been analyzed.
Read more about this topic: English Draughts
Famous quotes containing the word complexity:
“The price we pay for the complexity of life is too high. When you think of all the effort you have to put in—telephonic, technological and relational—to alter even the slightest bit of behaviour in this strange world we call social life, you are left pining for the straightforwardness of primitive peoples and their physical work.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)