Karl Jones at 21:06, 22 April 2016

2016-04-22T21:06:39Z

Karl Jones: Created page with "'''Mousetrap''' is the name of a game introduced by the English mathematician Arthur Cayley. == Description == In the game, cards numbered 1 through n ("say thirteen" in..."

2016-04-22T21:05:49Z

Created page with "'''Mousetrap''' is the name of a game introduced by the English mathematician Arthur Cayley. == Description == In the game, cards numbered 1 through n ("say thirteen" in..."

New page

'''Mousetrap''' is the name of a game introduced by the English mathematician [[Arthur Cayley]].

== Description ==

In the game, cards numbered 1 through n ("say thirteen" in Cayley's original article) are shuffled to place them in some random permutation and are arranged in a circle with their faces up.

Then, starting with the first card, the player begins counting 1, 2, 3, ... and moving to the next card as the count is incremented.

If at any point the player's current count matches the number on the card currently being pointed to, that card is removed from the circle and the player starts all over at 1 on the next card.

If the player ever removes all of the cards from the permutation in this manner, then the player wins. If the player reaches the count n+1 and cards still remain, then the game is lost.

In order for at least one card to be removed, the initial permutation of the cards must not be a derangement. However, this is not a sufficient condition for winning, because it does not take into account subsequent removals.

The number of ways the cards can be arranged such that the entire game is won, for n = 1, 2, ..., are
1, 1, 2, 6, 15, 84, 330, 1812, 9978, 65503, ... (sequence A007709 in OEIS).

== See also ==

* [[Arthur Cayley]]
* [[Card game]]
* [[Mathematics]]

== External links o==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayley%27s_mousetrap Cayley's mousetrap] @ Wikipedia

[[Category:Games]]
[[Category:Card games]]
[[Category:Mathematics]]

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 The number of ways the cards can be arranged such that the entire game is won, for n = 1, 2, ..., are
-, 1, 2, 6, 15, 84, 330, 1812, 9978, 65503, ... (sequence A007709 in OEIS).
+, 1, 2, 6, 15, 84, 330, 1812, 9978, 65503, ... (sequence A007709 in [[On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences|OEIS]]).
 == See also ==
@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 * [[Card game]]
 * [[Mathematics]]
+* [[On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences]]
 == External links o==

Cayley's mousetrap - Revision history

Karl Jones at 21:06, 22 April 2016

Karl Jones: Created page with "'''Mousetrap''' is the name of a game introduced by the English mathematician Arthur Cayley. == Description == In the game, cards numbered 1 through n ("say thirteen" in..."