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Old 03-18-2010, 03:03 AM   #1
JesikaFclq

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
428
Senior Member
Default Name of Theory/Postulate
If there is an arrangement of processes that will trigger an event, and the processes will be randomized for eternity until the arrangement of processes occurs, then the arrangement of processes must eventually occur.

Tetris Example
The question Would it be possible to play forever? was first encountered in a thesis by John Brzustowski in 1988. The conclusion reached was that the game is inevitably doomed to end. The reason has to do with the S and Z tetrominoes. If a player receives a large sequence of alternating S and Z tetrominoes, the naïve gravity used by the standard game eventually forces the player to leave a hole in a corner.

Supposing that the player then receives a large sequence of alternating S and Z tetrominoes, they will eventually be forced to leave holes throughout the board. Back and forth, the holes will necessarily stack to the top and, ultimately, end the game. If the pieces are distributed randomly, this sequence will eventually occur. Thus, if a game with an ideal, uniform, uncorrelated random number generator is played long enough, any player will top out. I obviously was not the first person to think of this, but I'm wondering if this particular theorem has a name, I've been looking for it but I can't find anything of the sort.
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