Nimbers #
The goal of this file is to define the nimbers, constructed as ordinals endowed with new
arithmetical operations. The nim sum a + b is recursively defined as the least ordinal not equal
to any a' + b or a + b' for a' < a and b' < b. There is also a nim product, defined in the
Mathlib/SetTheory/Nimber/Field.lean file.
Nim addition arises within the context of impartial games. By the Sprague-Grundy theorem, each
impartial game is equivalent to some game of nim. If x ≈ nim o₁ and y ≈ nim o₂, then
x + y ≈ nim (o₁ + o₂), where the ordinals are summed together as nimbers. Unfortunately, the
nim product admits no such characterization.
Notation #
Following [On Numbers And Games][conway2001] (p. 121), we define notation ∗o for the cast from
Ordinal to Nimber. Note that for general n : ℕ, ∗n is not the same as ↑n. For
instance, ∗2 ≠ 0, whereas ↑2 = ↑1 + ↑1 = 0.
Implementation notes #
The nimbers inherit the order from the ordinals - this makes working with minimum excluded values much more convenient. However, the fact that nimbers are of characteristic 2 prevents the order from interacting with the arithmetic in any nice way.
To reduce API duplication, we opt not to implement operations on Nimber on Ordinal. The order
isomorphisms Ordinal.toNimber and Nimber.toOrdinal allow us to cast between them whenever
needed.
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The identity function between Ordinal and Nimber.
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- Nimber.«term∗_» = Lean.ParserDescr.node `Nimber.«term∗_» 75 (Lean.ParserDescr.binary `andthen (Lean.ParserDescr.symbol "∗") (Lean.ParserDescr.cat `term 75))
Instances For
A recursor for Nimber. Use as induction x.
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- Nimber.rec h a = h (Nimber.toOrdinal a)
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Ordinal.induction but for Nimber.
Nimber addition #
Nimber addition is recursively defined so that a + b is the smallest nimber not equal to
a' + b or a + b' for a' < a and b' < b.
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- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Nimber addition of naturals corresponds to the bitwise XOR operation.