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Matrices/vectors for c4?
Matrices/vectors for c4?
Matrices/vectors for c4?
I decided this forum is not nerdy enough so i'm making the nerdiest (slash lamest?) thread ever on the face of the internet.

If any of you are math nerds, i'm giving you a challenge.  See if there's a way to use linear algebra (matrices, etc.), vector/tensor calculus, or or differential geometry for Connect Four.  Or maybe even an abstract algebra.

One might start by converting the 7x6 board into a 6x7 matrix (6 rows, 7 columns), where [1,1] corresponds to the upper-left corner of the board and [6,7] is the lower-right corner (thus following the convention of matrix coordinates).  

Or perhaps for some strange reason you'll need to treat the 7x6 board as a 6x7 board and therefore make the matrix a 7x6 matrix.  (in other words, this would be transposing the matrix, no?)

I've not yet mastered vector calculus or differential geometry, but I'll work on this too sometime.  Not that anyone's actually gonna try this...
Thanks but that does not use Vectors or really any math.  The 9 rules are merely guidelines for the AI's move search engine.  They are not useful for a human to use, because it is a brute-force method that requires many calculations per second that only a computer can do in reasonable time.

This was a foolish thread, I highly doubt tensors or topological spaces can be used in connect four.

If you're trying to find that thesis, i think there's a link to it at wikipedia's connect four page.  If not, the PDF can be found on Google.
Hi fstal,

linear algebra (matrices, etc.), vector/tensor calculus, or or differential geometry can indeed be used on C4.
Actually, I once found on the internet a thesis about math in combination with c4. It was pretty interesting. Unfortunatey I cannot remember the link but I did save the thesis; I'll give you the header with all necessary info:

A Knowledge-based Approach of
Connect-Four
The Game is Solved: White Wins
Victor Allis
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Masters Thesis, October 1988 †

Look it up, it is really interesting, and indeed fstal, there certainly is a way to use linear algebra (matrices, etc.), vector/tensor calculus, or or differential geometry for Connect Four. ;)

grtz

FAIR_WIZARD

all I can say is.... I'm in grade 10. Although I am in grade 11 enriched math, and have gotten perfect scores on competitions, I have not yet started calculas/matrices/vectors. sorry I can not be of any help... love math... but then if experts cannot solve your problem I doubt anyone can... but in connect four I can tell you that in perfect play, either the first player wins or a tie occurs (I forgot which) either way, the first player has an obvious advantage.
this just in----anyone who discovers something big in this, and posts it here, i will pay via check.  Dead serious lol.  So if anyone understand matrices/vectors/ all that stuff, get working on this.
The notation means everything for matrices, there's a big difference.  For example, you can multiply a 6x7 matrix by a 7x6 matrix, but you can't multiply a 6x7 matrix by a 6x7 matrix.  
Lol!!! Whatever u say ;) Dont make much sense fstal just say row are up and down and col are left to right please because I dont want to think about school!!!!! Its boring and sometimes hard if I sleep in a class or not lol....