Mathematicians discover impossible problem in Super Mario games
Using the tools of computational complexity, researchers have discovered it is impossible to figure out whether certain Super Mario Bros levels can be beaten without playing them, even if you use the world's most powerful supercomputer
Figuring out whether certain levels in the Super Mario Bros series of video games can be completed before you play them is mathematically impossible, even if you had several years and the world’s most powerful supercomputer to hand, researchers have found.
“We don’t know how to prove that a game is fun, we don’t know what that means mathematically, but we can prove that it’s hard and that maybe gives some insight into why it’s fun,” says Erik Demaine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “I like to think of hard as…
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