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The Game of NIM is one of the most classic examples of a game that has effectively been "solved" by mathematics. However, outside of a typical college-level course in Combinatorics or Game Theory, this game is hardly known to students. This particular version of NIM will involve coins as the primary objects (called Coin NIM).
In this activity, students will discover the winning strategy to the Game of NIM through several techniques that modern mathematics use: exploring special cases, conjecturing the right questions, and making well-formulated observations regarding interesting patterns.
On the way, students will learn the necessary background in binary computations to come up with a winning strategy to the full Game of NIM.