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Subject: Re: Mathematical limit forced by K. D. 's position vice. Any formal proofs?

Author: KarinsDad

Date: 09:50:27 10/22/99

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On October 22, 1999 at 11:29:47, Dann Corbit wrote:

[snip]
>I think your 161 bits is a very important theoretical development.  You should
>publish your encoding to a scientific journal.  If correct, it is absolute proof
>that there can be no more than:
>2.923e48
>distinct legal positions in the game of chess.  Everything I have ever seen
>before was just an estimate.  I have never seen a formal proof to limit the
>number to an absolute ceiling of any type.  Has anyone else?

Well, I'm trying to get there.

I have a good sized Excel spreadsheet which contains my equations and data.
However, it is at work and in Excel 97 and I could not open it at home in Excel
95 (?). But, I just loaded Excel 97 at home last night, so I should now be able
to continue working on my paper at home.

The REAL problem has been Karin. She is a little clingy these days and she has
decided she wants to cling to me instead of her mom. So, I get no peace of mind
until her bedtime (8 PM) and usually by then, I am fairly frazzled and would
rather play a computer game (not chess, it's too mind numbing) rather than work
on a paper or even my program.

Not that this is a good excuse. It's just the reason.

KarinsDad :)

PS. This algorithm would give an estimate on the number of maximum positions as
well. The reason is that some positions compress down into 100 bits, some into
140 bits, some into 160 bits, etc. Also, the algorithm does not prevent illegal
positions. So, you would still have an estimate for the number of legal
positions (although you would also have a provable absolute upper limit which
you would know is still TOO high).



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