Game Theory

It sounds like a mix of holiday and school, but game theory is more like a Friday night at the haunted house.

Posted by Tormod Guldvog
13 September, 2001 04:09:39

In fact, game theory is a field which combines philosophy and math to work out ways to solve classic games. The result is insight into how strategies are formed when people interact, which is very useful in real life scenarios.

Take a simple example: Imagine that you live in an area where there is a market to sell 1000 bottles of water, and there are two companies competing with a similar product. What happens if one of them charges half the price for the bottle? Does it win the market? Or does it actually lose, considering it only makes half as much money? Where does the rest of the money go?

A simple case, of course. But game theory is important in fields like economics, where players are huge companies and the prize is your money.

So take a chance with us - who knows, you might actually learn something! And don't forget to take the poll.

Related Links

The Prisoner's Dilemma
http://www.princeton.edu/~mdaniels/PD/PD.html
Try your game theory skills at this simple, classic game.�Game theor

Chronology of Game Theory
http://www.econ.canterbury.ac.nz/hist.htm
This page lists important events in the evolution of the science of game theory.

A Beautiful Mind: movie presentation
http://entertainment.msn.com/universal/abeautifulmind/
A presentation of the movie A Beautiful Mind, about the game theory founder John Nash, presented by MSN.

John Nash Autobiography
http://www.nobel.se/economics/laureates/1994/nash-autobio.html
This is an autobiography by Nobel Laureate John Nash, presented by the Swedish Nobel Institute.

GameTheory.net
http://www.gametheory.net/
A collection of reviewed links to lecture notes, books, and web sites covering various aspects of game theory, including a section about how game theory has been featured in movies.

Game Theory
http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/game-theory/
An excellent introduction to game theory, courtesy of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

International Journal of Game Theory
http://www.tau.ac.il/ijgt/index.html
The International Journal of Game Theory publishes original research, surveys, and state-of-the-art papers with rigorous mathematical content in the field of game theory and its applications in mathematical economics, management science, political science, biology, and other fields.

Game Theory: Definition
http://www.sfb504.uni-mannheim.de/glossary/game.htm
A good text on the meaning of the term "game theory".

Tetris Research Page
http://www.math.uic.edu/~burgiel/Tetris/
Ever wondered why you can't beat the computer at Tetris? Here's the explanation

An outline of the history of game theory
http://william-king.www.drexel.edu/top/class/histf.html
This is a very useful page containing a list of historic events in game theory, with notes.

Game Theory and Political Science
http://www.columbia.edu/~de11/gamethry.html
A web page outlining different game theory classes taught at several universities. There is lots of useful material here if you look around.

The Rubik's Cube
http://cube.misto.cz/
Remember Rubik's Cube? Here's a great site with lots of ways to solve it.

Strategy and Conflict: An Introductory Sketch of Game Theory
http://william-king.www.drexel.edu/top/eco/game/game.html
This is a text by Roger A. McCain on game theory, including a good description of zero-sum games.

Game Theory, Linear/Non-Linear Programming
http://mathforum.org/advanced/game.html
This is an index of useful links related to game theory in programming and software design.

Strategic Game Theory Glossary
http://www.agsm.unsw.edu.au/~bobm/teaching/SET/glossary.html
This is a glossary of important terms in strategic game theory.