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A New Look at Patience Sorting
Student-Run Research Seminar| Speaker: | Isaiah Lankham, UC Davis |
| Location: | 693 Kerr |
| Start time: | Wed, Feb 4 2004, 12:10PM |
If you've ever wanted to know how someone can both play games and perform real mathematical research at the same time, then this talk is for you! Since it was first introduced in 1962 by C.L. Mallows as an algorithm for sorting a deck of cards, Patience Sorting has often been employed solely for its \emph{Sorting} properties. However, in this talk we will emphasize the \emph{Patience} part of Patience Sorting. Namely, we will explore the viewpoint of B. Floyd, who in 1964 independently introduced Patience Sorting as an idealized model for the extremely popular card game Klondike Solitaire, which is also known as Patience. As a card game, we will explore what kinds of strategies one might use for playing Patience Sorting and how such ideas are useful in studying generalizations of Patience Sorting that are more like Klondike Solitaire.