Computational complexity of winning strategies in two player polynomial games
J. P. Jones
Abstract:
Two player games of the following type are considered.
A game is defined by a polynomial
$P$, with integer coefficients.
The number of variables in the polynomial is the length of the
game. The two players alternately choose nonnegative integers
$X_1,X_2,\dots,X_l$. The player having the last move wishes to
make the polynomial
$P(X_1,X_2,\dots,X_l)=0$. The other player
wishes to make
$P(X_1,X_2,\dots,X_l)\ne0$.
An old theorem of von Neumann and Zermelo states that any
finite, positional, win-lose game with perfect information is
determined. That is, there exists a winning strategy for one
player or the other. In [4] the author proved that for
$l=6$
(games of length 6) there need be no recursive (computable) winning
strategy for eigher player. In the present paper, it is proved
that for
$l=4$, there need be no polynomial time computable
winning strategy for either player.
A theorem about
$NP$ completeness of problems in two player
polynomial games is also given. The problem of deciding whether
player I has a winning strategy in games of length
$l=2$ is
$NP$-complete.
A proof is sketched.
UDC:
518.5