Re: Mathrix

[cdrodeffer@...]

--- In piecepack@yahoogroups.com, Ron Hale-Evans <rwhe@l...> wrote:
> One of the first games I have
> tried from the competition is
> Mathrix (with an 'h'), by Clark
> Rodeffer, in which you try to
> clear the 4x6 board of coins
> (leaving only one coin) by
> forming mathematical equations
> with their values. [...] I won
> my first game easily in six
> moves, without using anything
> than "four-banger" math for
> anything but the n^0=1 move
> Clark recommends you save for
> last if you can. [...]

As Marty pointed out, you can only remove one of the coins from your
equation.

> I also have a question for
> Clark: are expressions other
> than integers allowed on both
> sides of equations?

Absolutely! This is legal. One of the examples from the sample game
was 4! = 3 x 2^3. Factorials are sometimes very useful in Mathrix.

> 4
> 5
> 2 3
> 
> Is there any way I could have
> won the game at this point? If
> I had been able to, I might
> have won my second game...

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a winning sequence from this
position, but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. Ron has posed the
first Mathrix problem to the group!

> Also, Clark, have you ever
> played a game in which you
> left no coins on the board at
> all?

Again, since only one coin may be removed at a time, this is
impossible. I can't think of a way to build an equation with only one
coin.

Ron, thanks for playing, and I hope you still enjoy it when you try
the harder version with just one coin at a time. :-)

Clark