Researchers Solve Checkers, Once And For All

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07/20/2007

Jul. 20, 2007

Researchers Solve Checkers, Once And For All

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If you're not camping out to grab the new Harry Potter book, how about a nice game of checkers? Researchers report in the journal Science this week that after sorting through 500 billion billion possible moves, they've been able to create a computer program that will never lose a game of checkers -- though if both players play perfectly, the game will end in a draw. What does it mean to have solved the game of checkers -- and does that achievement have any bearing on other games, like chess or poker? We'll talk with one of the scientists on the checker-playing team.

Produced by Flora Lichtman, Correspondent and Managing Editor, Video

Guests

Jonathan Schaeffer
Professor of Computer Science

University of Alberta

Alberta, Canada

Discussion

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