Julia Bowman (1919-1985), prestigious American mathematician. She was the first female member of the Mathematics Division of the United States National Academy of Sciences, and the first female president of the American Mathematical Society.
She dedicated part of her scientific work to game theory, which is a branch of mathematics with applications in very different disciplines (sociology, psychology, economics, business management, military strategy, biology, artificial intelligence, etc.) that analyses the interactions between individuals who make decisions. In fact, Julia managed to prove a convergence theorem that is considered the most important one in elementary game theory.
The following game is proposed: The squares
It is a well-known Asian strategy game, intended to be played on a blackboard, although it can also be played with a pencil and a sheet of paper.
How to play and rules
Two people play. 16 letters are written in rows of 4. The game consists of forming squares whose sides are lines that join two letters. It is played alternately and every time you get a square you have the right to make another line. The person who gets the most squares wins.
A B C D
E F K L
I J K L
M N O P
The following picture is very illustrative. One of the Chinese girls (who would be the first player) writes sixteen different letters in four rows as shown in the picture. Join two of the letters with a straight line, for example, A and B, pass the board to your opponent, who will have to connect two other letters, for example, E with A, thus making lines joining the letters two by two. If the first player were to connect E and F now, the other player would connect B with F and win a square, which would entitle her to play one more time. Whoever manages to close the most squares wins. Each one will mark their squares to identify them, for example, with an X or with a •
http://acanomas.com/images/ingenio/image065.jpg (16/04/2022)