Re: Fwd: Re: computer-go: How many bits are needed to encode an N x NGo position?

[Arthur Cater <Arthur.Cater@xxxxxx>]

>>
>>Just for  fun, there is another possible  complication.  It's possible
>>that some  LEGAL positions cannot  be reached in  a real game  from an
>>empty board.  I don't really know, but if that is the case, someone on
>>this list  may be able  to construct an  example of a  legal positions
>>that cannot be reached in a real game.
>
>This is a good question.  Are there any legal positions that cannot
>be reached in a real game?  It seems to me that there are not.  If a
>position is legal then it seems to me that the individual stones in
>that position could be played legally in any order.  Kos would not
>pose a problem, because there need not be any capturing in this game.
>If one side had many more stones than the other, the other side could
>pass.  There are surely many positions no two sane human players
>would ever reach, but I think all legal positions should be
>attainable.


If you are striving for minimum bits to encode a position, then reserving
enough bits for 25 possible ko positions might be overkill: a point can
only possibly be ko in very limited circumstances. It must be well under
an eighth of the points, even in the most artificial situation, so 3 bits
(or more?) could be saved.

Arthur (list newbie!)