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Hu's Messages
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If you would like to leave a message for Hu, you may add it below. Q: Hi Hu. I read the part of your page regarding time settings and the golden ratio. I assume this is maximizing something, but could you explain the reasoning behind your calculations? I'm pretty good at math, but never got into stuff like the golden ratio. Thanks! JasonD A: Howdy. I wanted the 19x19 games to be 24:00 minutes. Any constant factor in the exponent makes for a smooth transition between sizes. When I started playing with some times, they came out near the Golden Ratio, so I adjusted them to be closer. The Golden Ratio turns up in many places in nature. Hu Icepick: Phi (aka The Golden Ratio) is approximately 1.618. Lots of information out there about it. DanArgent: The golden ratio, Jason, is defined as the relationship between x and y when you set up the equation: (x + y) / x = x / y Like Icepick says, it comes out as approximately 1.618 but it is an irrational number like pi. Oddly enough there is a relationship between the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio. If you have one Fibonacci number over the number that comes right before it you begin to approach the golden ratio the higher you get. I have only studied this a little. I have not yet learned how to define this relationship in terms of series calculus. Hey Hu, this is Paganini (paganini@madisontelco.com) from KGS. This question came up in a discussion in the English Room over on KGS this evening. The guys said I should post it to you in case you wanted it for your FAQ. Q: I've noticed an odd tendency for fairly low-ranked players to beat up rather higher-ranked players on 9 x 9 boards. Why is this? A: New players tend to be better at tactics than strategy. Life and death problems are often the first thing that a beginner learns after the basic rules. In the small confines of the 9 x 9 board there is little besides life and death tactics. It's easy for a strong player to get a bit sloppy when facing a weak opponent on a small board. The strong player may not expect much from the weak player. He may make intuitive moves that emphasize shape and influence - moves that work well in large spaces, but not so well on the cowded 9 x 9 board. By contrast, the weaker opponent is fired up to do his best against his worthy adversary, with all the life and death problems fresh in his mind. Hu: Thanks Paganini! mAsterdam: Hi Hu. Thank you for your comment (and edit - J ... ai! :-) on board geography. Hu: Welcome! Bashan: I just saw your picture on KGS and I now understand what "hu" you are: 虎! Hu: I wish I could read Chinese, but people may be interested to know that one meaning of Hu is "tiger". My picture is an image of a bobcat, which I think of as the North American mini-tiger. Sebastian: Thank you for editing KGSWishlist. Our little stylistic difference aside, I have one question: You deleted "([Sebastian]:) I can't follow your argumentation.", and edited the rest of my contribution, so that it appeared like it was written by TJ. Why did you do this? Hu: I'm sorry, I must have gotten confused about the authorship of that bit. Given that I thought it was TJ responding, the deletion made sense, but in retrospect is wrong. Sebastian: Now you changed it again, so that it appeared like it was written by TJ again. Why on earth do you keep doing this??? TJ: I was rather amused. Looked rather like I was arguing with myself. TJ: No, it didn't! I assumed it was meant as "in answer to TJ".;) Sebastian: Maybe so. But that's unlikely, since Hu himself told me at some other occasion that he feels the string "[XYZ]:" clearly identifies that the following is XYZ's contribution. I have another idea: It just dawned on me that it may not have been Hu's edit - see Rubilia's message. If so, then this is at least a vandal with a sense of humour. Hu: No, it was me. I thought I was doing the requested thing. I'll leave it alone now. (Sebastian:) Hello Hu, I just deleted the rest of our conversation on GuineaPigsFeedback because the solution was not refresh. Please feel free to revive it, though, if you see fit (including the first paragraph with my original question). Or you could move the little side discussion about layout here. I liked your teasing and I'd be happy to continue our retort game. This is a copy of the living page "Hu's Messages" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |