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BGonline.org Forums
Etymology of "root number"
Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Friday, 22 July 2011, at 3:49 a.m.
When I first encountered the term "root number," I assumed that it meant a number that forced the player to "uproot" a checker to create a blot. I was surprised to learn that most people interpreted it to mean that it was a number that you "root" for. Two things struck me as arguing against this interpretation: (a) logically, it would seem that any anti-joker by your opponent (e.g., boxcars from the bar against a one-point board) could be something to root for, but the term "root number" seems to be used more narrowly than that, to refer to plays that crack one's board/prime or similarly create bad blots or wreck structure, especially in an otherwise dominant position; (b) a root number is typically said to belong to the player who rolls it, rather than the player who would "root for" it.
Does anybody know when the term was first coined, and whether my interpretation is shared by anyone else?
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