Learning Team NIM Summary Essay

Submitted By nicole084
Words: 778
Pages: 4

Running head: LEARNING TEAM NIM GAME SUMMARY

1

Learning Team D NIM Game Summary
Tomorrow Nelson, Nicole Fredrickson, Cela White, Dede Elliott
Math 213
July 6, 2015
Zarmina Peracha

LEARNING TEAM NIM GAME SUMMARY

2

Learning Team NIM Game Summary
The NIM game is a game of strategy, not a game of chance. According to academic.regis.edu, a website by Charles Bouton containing information all about the NIM game and it’s history, NIM has origins from all over the world. While some believe NIM began in
China, the word NIM actually comes from the German word “Nehem” which means “to take”.
Who knew that math could be fun? The game NIM teaches students predictions of operational outcomes by giving the players a number to reach by adding or subtracting given variables. Team D each played six games using given variables and reaching the given number.
We then each came up with a strategy for achieving the goal for each game in the activity. ­
Game A required the winner to reach 21 using the variable 1 and 2. We found that if your opponent ends on of their turns with a 17, 19 or 20, then you would win. Game B was similar to game A, but you used the variables 1,2,3,4 and the goal was to reach 104. In order to win, you had to get your opponent to have their last turn end in 100,101,102 or 103. You then would add the last variable to get to 104.
In game C, the target number was 73 and players could only use the digits 3, 5, and 7. In this game, it seemed the best strategy was to take random selections and alternate between 3, 5 and 7 until we eventually got close to 73. Once we were close to 73 we found that the best way was to go use smaller numbers to reach the final target of 73.
Game D asked us to play reverse NIM with the numbers 1 and 2, but rather than using addition and trying to reach 21, we started with 21 and used subtraction to get to our target number which was 0 this time. We found the best strategy for this game was to alternate between

LEARNING TEAM NIM GAME SUMMARY

3

subtracting by one the first time, then two the next time, and continue all the way until we reached zero.
The NIM game is a fun way to learn to predict outcomes using different variables. NIM is a great tool to use when teaching students about predicting outcomes. It also is a great tool to use with students to teach them about patterns. Though there were different strategies that could be used throughout each game to get to the end goal, there are patterns that can be found in all 6 of the games. This is a great way to teach students about making predictions as well as using different operations to reach a certain goal. It also a great way to keep students interested because it allows them to compete and is a fun way to get them to interact with each other.

LEARNING TEAM NIM GAME