chess & mathematics

hello,

i am ken from nairobi kenya ....is chess & mathematics realted...does it  imply that if you are good in chess then you will be good in math?

Many people claim that if you play chess, you will become good at math. I heard of someone in the states, making a serious test on a big school, but i cant find it.

Math/Algebra, etc and Chess both involve critical thinking and detailed calculations. If you can sharpen your mind on one, then it should increase your mental calculational ability. If nothing else, it could improve your confidence.

If you can solve.......

2x - y + 3z = 11. x + y - z = 2. 3x + y + 2z

Then you should be able to understand

Nxc7!, Ke7, NxR

Everything in life is realted to mathematics. For me that includes Chess.

Firstly, no amount of algebraic understanding is gonna tell you the contingent fact that Nxc7 means Knight takes piece on c7. Also, understanding the algebraic notation doesn't mean you understand how to play the game at any level. It doesn't even imply understanding of the rules, let alone tactics/strategy. I think theres something to be said for the application of mathematical skill to the reasoning process in chess, but i don't see the point you make here...

 The original question was whether or not they were interelated or not.. In my opinion, there are similarities. Does chess involve in-depth calculations? Yes. Does chess require in-depth calculations? Yes. Do they both require and help develop critical thinking skills? Yes.

Are there tactical elements such as forks and pins in math? No, but there is certain cause & effect calculations needed in both math & chess. And finally, if you failed to understand any of those points, then re-read what I wrote about confidence.

Finally, it's not by coincidence my knight ended up on NxC7 forking your king and rook, it required an understanding of many elements to see the advantage obtained....hence the benefits of critical thinking.

What exactly was YOUR point?

There most definitely are tactical elements in mathematics!  Although you may not think of them as such, tricks like symmetry, point of view, and cyclicity can be applied in much the same way as pins, forks, and skewers.  Just as in chess, combinations of these tactical elements may be used together to solve the problem (i.e., win the game).

Although there are similarities between mathematics and chess, I feel that chess does not require as much logic, simply because there is not always a best move (although there certainly are the best moves), whereas in math there is always the one and only correct answer.  That is, I do not believe that chess on its own would improve your math skills (maybe it would if they were exceedingly detrimental to begin with...).

There might be only a selection of correct answers in maths (what are the roots of y=x^2 + 5 ? ) but there are often a lot of ways of going about things, i.e. two different methods. In chess it is the same. The board dictates what has to happen, but how you go about fulfilling that destiny is up to the style of the player, their personal artistry, and their ability to find beauty and simplicity in something complex.

I'm sorry, perhaps I should state it this way.  In math, there are truths and there are "untruths".  In its most basic form, I mean "1+1=2" (truth) vs. "2+2=3" (lies!).  Those theorems you mentioned are truths (the proofs are simply a way of showing the truth..  I would say the theorem is the answer, and it is the only one).

In chess, however, there are not so clear-cut differences.  In a position, grandmasters may argue for years, decades even, about which move is better, and there will never be a way to prove that one side is correct.  This may possibly be because there are multiple different good moves.  But some moves are better than others...  So what would be the "truths" and "untruths"?  Chess has more shades of grey.

That sounded a lot more philosophical than I wanted, but meh.  The point I wanted to get across is that there are tactics in math; I just thought I should put forward my own response to the OP if I posted.

One more thing...  Chess always has the same problem.  Math does not.  I was inspecting all of math as the game of chess, not simply one problem as a game of chess.  That does not make as much sense.

I agree.  I doubt that improving in one will directly affect ability in the other.  However, I think it's very likely that there will be a strong correlation in abilities simply because the type of people who enjoy either pursuit enough to actively attempt to increase understanding or improve are likely to also enjoy the other pursuit too.  While not exact analogues, they are still similar brain exercises.

I applaud the person who sees the usual math tricks (sequencing, x < epsilon for all epsilon > 0, symmetry, +constant - constant, hilbert spaces, operator notation, etc) as analogous to chess tactics!

Fun stuff.

This is anecdotal, but we have 2 math professors at my chess club. One is an A player, the other is a master.

Hi,

to start with your quadratic equations is incomplete........i.e 3x+2y

Hi,

Thanks to you all......i am a Msc Mathematics graduate myself and indeed i can say that chess does help in sharpening thinking as far as mathematics is concerned moreso in the areas of trigonometry,arithmetic progressions etc...quimbus your simultaneous equation -question is incomplete..kindly look at the third term= ? thus give a solution for the third,..any mathematicians out there for friendship..any insight on adomian decomposition?

You guys are great! I just made the problem up but if any of you have any tips for helping me understand commutative and associative laws.... i have a quiz on Tuesday

 Adomian Decomposition..I actually had to look it up. At first it sounded like something you might use on your lawn to help get rid of dandelions.either that or something that required a prescription.... lol.. sorry, a scholar I am certainly NOT.

quimbus,

you are welcome commutative....x+y=y+x and so on ...nice day bro

hahahhahaa quimbus you are a funny man.....loh.....thanks anyway i am still looking for a mathematician out there who can assist me on singular cauchy bvp and adomian decomposition and preferably one who is also good in chess...i am good in chess mind you..

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