The brief introduction of the Nim Game

The Simplest One

Description

You are playing the following Nim Game with your friend: There is a heap of stones on the table, each time one of you take turns to remove 1 to 3 stones. The one who removes the last stone will be the winner. You will take the first turn to remove the stones.

Both of you are very clever and have optimal strategies for the game. How to know if you can win the game?

For example, if there are 4 stones in the heap, then you will never win the game: no matter 1, 2, or 3 stones you remove, the last stone will always be removed by your friend. Therefore, if there are 4 stones in the heap, then you will lose the game. Another example: if there are 5 stones in the heap, you can remove 1 stone, then no matter how many stones your friend remove, you can remove the last stone and win the game. Therefore, if there are 5 stones in the heap, then you will win the game.

Solution

Let’s start with the simplest one. If there are 1, 2, or 3 stones, you can win the game. And from the examples, we know that when there is 4 stones, you will lose, but when there are 5 stones, you will win.

What’s the next? Actually:

• Theorem 1: when the number of the stones is multiple of 4, you will lose the game. Otherwise, you will win the game.

But why? In order to prove this, we must introduce some important definitions:

• Winning State: the state you will win the game.
• Losing State: the state you will lose the game.

We can find that: if a state is a winning state, we can make a move to change the state to a losing state (make your opposite lose). And if a state is a losing state, no mater which move we choose, the state will be changed to a winning state (make your opposite win).

Now, we can prove the theorem 1 by proving the following two claims:

• Claim 1: If the number of the stones is multiple of 4, any move will make the number of the rest stones not multiple of 4 (from losing state to winning state).
• Claim 2: If the number of the stones is not multiple of 4, we can make a move to make the number of the rest stones multiple of 4 (from winning state to losing state).

The proof of the claim 1 is obvious. Because you can only remove 1, 2, or 3 stones at a time, if the number of the stones is multiple of 4, no matter how many stones you remove, the number of the rest stones will not be multiple of 4.

For claim 2, suppose the number of the stones is $n$, and $n$ is not multiple of 4. We just need remove $n\mathrm{mod}4$ stones, then the number of the rest stones will be $n-n\mathrm{mod}4$, which is multiple of 4.

Then we know that 0 is the simplest losing state. Then we have proven the theorem 1 by induction (compare the claims and the definitions of the winning state and the losing state).

Multiple Piles

Description

There are several piles of stones. You and your friend will take turns to remove stones from the piles. On each turn, a player can remove any number of stones from a single pile. The one who removes the last stone will be the winner. You will take the first turn to remove the stones.

For example, if there are two piles of stones, the first one with 2 stones and the second one with 3 stones, you will win the game. You can remove 1 stone from the second pile, then no matter how many stones your friend remove, you just to make a move to make the two piles have the same number of stones, then you will win the game.

Solution

We can solve this problem by using the Nim Sum. The Nim Sum of a set of numbers is the bitwise XOR of the numbers.

XOR: if two bits of binary representations are different, the result is 1, otherwise, the result is 0.

For the problem, the solution is below:

• Theorem 2: the Nim Sum of a set of numbers is 0 if and only if the set of numbers is in the losing state.

We can prove the theorem 2 similarly as the theorem 1. We can prove the following two claims:

• Claim 3: If the Nim Sum of a set of numbers is 0, any move will make the Nim Sum of the rest numbers not 0.
• Claim 4: If the Nim Sum of a set of numbers is not 0, we can make a move to make the Nim Sum of the rest numbers 0.

The proof of the claim 3 is easy. Suppose we remove $x$ stones from a pile, and the number of the rest stones of the pile is $r$. Then the Nim Sum of the rest numbers is $(x+r)\oplus r$. When this number is 0, $x$ must be $0$, which is not a legal move.

NOTE: You may ask why the Nim Sum of the rest numbers is $(x+r)\oplus r$. This is because the XOR operation is associative and commutative. After removing $x$ stones, we change the number from $x+r$ to $r$, we can use the origin Nim Sum 0 to calculate the new Nim Sum: $0\oplus (x+r)\oplus r$, the $\oplus (x+r)$ means we remove the whole pile, and the $\oplus r$ means we add new pile of $r$ stones, from the two steps, we can make a pile from $x+r$ stones to $r$ stones. And 0 is the identity element of the XOR operation. Therefore the Nim Sum of the rest numbers is $(x+r)\oplus r$.

The proof of the claim 4 maybe a little complex. Suppose the i-th bit of the Nim Sum is $b_i$, the right most bit’s index is 0, and the left most bit is $b_m$, note that $b_m=1$. Then we can find at least one pile of stones whose $m$-th bit is 1. Now we try to remove some stones from this pile to the Nim Sum of the rest numbers is 0. We just need to consider the left $m$ bits of the pile. We consider each bit of the left $m$ bits of the pile, if the corresponding Nim Sum bit is 1, we must make the bit of the rest number changed to change the Nim Sum’s bit to 0; if the corresponding Nim Sum bit is 0, we must make the bit of the rest number unchanged to keep the Nim Sum bit to be 0, we could record each bit of the result. Subtracting the result number from the origin number could get the number of stones we should remove from the pile. Because the m-th bit of the rest is 0, we can find that the number of removed stones is positive.

NOTE: This proof may be complex, there is a example of how to make a move to make the Nim Sum 0 when the original Nim Sum is not 0. There are three piles of stones: 1, 10, 13. The binary representations: 1, 1010, 1101. The Nim Sum is 110, we can find 1101 is the pile whose 3rd bit from left is 1. Now we consider each bit of the left 3 bits of the pile 1101, the first one is 1, and the corresponding Nim Sum bit is 0, so we keep this; the second one is 0, and the corresponding Nim Sum bit is 1, so we change this; the third one is 1, and the corresponding Nim Sum bit is 1, so we change this. After the three steps, we get a number 011, then we use the left 3 bits of pile 1101, which is 101, to subtract the number 011, then we get 10, which is 2, so we remove 2 stones from the pile. After this move, the rest three piles will be: 1, 10 11, and the Nim Sum is 0.

Then we have proven the theorem 2 by induction.

Staircase Nim

Description

There are several piles of stones. You and your friend will take turns to move one or more stones from a pile that is not the left most one to the one adjacent to its left side. The one who moves the last stone will be the winner. You will take the first turn to move the stones.

Solution

We index the left most one as 0, and the right most one as $n$. Let me show you the solution first:

• Theorem 3: when the Nim Sum of the odd index piles is 0, you will lose the game. Otherwise, you will win the game.

Let me explain this. We still can prove by proving the following two claims:

• Claim 5: If the Nim Sum of the odd index piles is 0, any move will make the Nim Sum of the rest odd index numbers not 0.
• Claim 6: If the Nim Sum of the odd index piles is not 0, we can make a move to make the Nim Sum of the rest odd index numbers 0.

Actually, we have proven this two already.

For claim 5, consider one move from a odd position to its left, this is same with removing some stones from it. For one move from a even position to its left, after the move, one number participating calculation of the Nim Sum will be increased a positive number, we record this number as $r$, and the original one as $x$, then the new number is $x+r$, and the Nim Sum of the rest numbers is $(x+r)\oplus x=r$, which is not 0.

For claim 6, we just do what we have done in proof of the claim 4. We can find the pile and move some stones to its left.

Then we have proven the theorem 3 by induction.

Variations of the Game

Variation 1

Description

There are several buckets from 0 to n, some buckets are empty, and some buckets have some cookies. You and your friend will take turns to move one cookie from a bucket that is not the bucket 0 to any one which is at the left side of the bucket. The one who moves the last cookie will be the winner. You will take the first turn to move the cookie.

Solution

This one is the same as the multiple piles problem. For each cookie, we can consider it as a pile of stones, and the number of the stones is the index of the bucket. Then we can use the Nim Sum to solve this problem.

Variation 2

Description

There are several piles of stones. Initially, the numbers are non-descending, for example: 1, 2, 2, 3. You and your friend will take turns to remove stones from a pile and make sure that the rest numbers are non-descending. The one who moves the last stone will be the winner. You will take the first turn to move the stones.

Solution

We can calculate the difference between the adjacent piles. For example, the differences of 1, 2, 2, 3 are 1, 1, 0, 1. We can find that the differences are non-negative. For one move, supposed we remove $x$ stones from the i-th pile, then the difference between the i-th pile and the i+1-th pile will increase by $x$, and the difference between the i-th pile and the i-1-th pile will decrease by $x$. This is similar with the move in the staircase nim problem. The only difference in this case is that we move the stones to the one adjacent to its right side, rather than the left side.

Variation 3

Description

There are several buckets from 0 to n, some buckets are empty, and some buckets have one cookie. You and your friend will take turns to move one cookie from a bucket that is not the bucket 0 to any one which is at the left side of the bucket, but you can not jump over any buckets that contains cookies. The one who moves the last cookie will be the winner. You will take the first turn to move the cookie.

This one is similar with variation 2. For each cookie, we just need to consider it as a pile of stones, and the number of the stones is the index of the bucket. Then this one becomes exactly the same as variation 2.

Variation 4

Description

There are several coins on a line, some coins are heads up, and some coins are tails up. You and your friend will take turns to choose one head-up coin and any other coin that is at the left side of the chosen coin, and flip them. The one who flips the last coin will be the winner. You will take the first turn to flip the coins.

Solution

This one is similar with the multiple piles problem. We consider the head-up coins as the stones, and the number of the stones are the index of the coins. For the chosen two head-up coins, it is same with removing the whole two piles of stones. If the left chosen coin is tail-up, the result is we remove some stones from a pile.

With this conversion, we can find that we can not make any two piles of stones with the same number. This looks different from multiple piles, but actually they are the same, we have two claims below:

• Claim 7: If the Nim Sum of a set of numbers is 0, any move will make the Nim Sum of the rest numbers not 0.
• Claim 8: If the Nim Sum of a set of numbers is not 0, we can make a move to make the Nim Sum of the rest numbers 0.

For the claim 7, we only need consider if we can make the Nim Sum 0 by removing two piles at the times. For any two piles x and y, they must have different numbers of stones. So after removing, the Nim Sum is not 0.

For the Claim 8, suppose we can make two piles same, and if after one move that make the Nim Sum 0 and two same piles, actually we can remove the two same piles when take the move, so the Nim Sum is still 0.