The mathematical study of games is an intriguing endeavor with implications and applications that reach far beyond tic-tac-toe, chess, and poker to economics, business, and even biology and politics. Most texts on the subject, however, are written at the graduate level for those with strong mathematics, economics, or business backgrounds. In

This classic text, originally from the noted logician Elliot Mendelson, is intended to be an easy-to-read introduction to the basic ideas and techniques of game theory. It can be used as a class textbook or for self-study. Introducing Game Theory and its Applications, Second Edition presents an easy-to-read introduction to the basic ideas and techniques of game theory. After a brief introduction, the authors begin with a chapter devoted to combinatorial games--a topic neglected or treated minimally in most other texts. The focus then shifts to two-person zero-sum games and their solutions. Here the authors present the simplex method based on linear programming for solving these games and develop within this presentation the required background. The final chapter presents some of the fundamental ideas and tools of non-zero-sum games and games with more than two players, including an introduction to cooperative game theory. The book is suitable for a first undergraduate course in game theory, or a graduate course for students with limited previous exposure. It is useful for students who need to learn some game theory for a related subject (e.g., microeconomics) and have a limited mathematical background. It also prepares its readers for more advanced study of game theory's applications in economics, business, and the physical, biological, and social sciences. The authors hope this book breeds curiosity about the subject as its design is meant to to satisfy the readers. The book will prepare readers for deeper study of game theory applications in many fields of study.

This text opens with the theory of 2-person zero-sum games, 2-person non-zero sum games, and n-person games, at a level between non-mathematical introductory books and technical mathematical game theory books. Includes introductory explanations of gaming and meta games. Includes numerous exercises anbd problems with solutions and over 30 illustrations. 1986 edition.

Approach your problems from the right It isn't that they can't see the solution. end and begin with the answers. Then It is that they can't see the problem. one day, perhaps you will find the final question. G. K. Chesterton. The Scandal of Father Brown 'The Point of a Pin'. 'The Hermit Clad in Crane Feathers' in R. van Gulik's The Chinese Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the "tree" of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite often in fact, that branches which were thought to be completely disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non-trivially) in regional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with physics; the Min kowsky lemma, coding theory and the structure of water meet one another in packing and covering theory: quantum fields, crystal defects and mathematical programming profit from homotopy theory; Lie algebras are relevant to filtering; and prediction and electrical engineering can use Stein spaces.

This book integrates the fundamentals, methodology, and major application fields of noncooperative and cooperative games including conflict resolution. The topics addressed in the book are discrete and continuous games including games represented by finite trees; matrix and bimatrix games as well as oligopolies; cooperative solution concepts; games under uncertainty; dynamic games and conflict resolution. The methodology is illustrated by carefully chosen examples, applications and case studies which are selected from economics, social sciences, engineering, the military and homeland security. This book is highly recommended to readers who are interested in the in-depth and up-to-date integration of the theory and ever-expanding application areas of game theory.

Covering all the essential topics for undergraduate courses, this is the ideal student introduction to game theory. The book sets out the basics of the subject in a non-technical way. All discussion and explanation is clear, well structured, and entirely accessible to students of botheconomics and business.In addition to describing and explaining the basic theory, Game Theory uses illustrations and examples to show its application to realistic, topical, and interesting problems-ranging from strategic decision-making within companies to international environmental policy-making.The book also features exercises with accompanying solutions to allow the student to check progress throughout the course, and a guide to further reading at the end of each chapter.

"The media today, and especially the national press, are frequently in conflict with people in the public eye, particularly politicians and celebrities, over the disclosure of private information and behaviour. Historically, journalists have argued that 'naming and shaming' serious wrong-doing and behaviour on the part of public officials is justified as being in the public interest. However, when the media spotlight is shone on perfectly legal personal behaviour, family issues and sexual orientation, and when, in particular, this involves ordinary people, the question arises of whether such matters are really in the 'public interest' in any meaningful sense of the term. In this book, leading academics, commentators and journalists from a variety of different cultures, consider the extent to which the media are entitled to reveal details of people's private lives, the laws and regulations which govern such revelations, and whether these are still relevant in the age of social media."--Publisher's website.

An exciting new edition of the popular introduction to game theory and its applications The thoroughly expanded Second Edition presents a unique, hands-on approach to game theory. While most books on the subject are too abstract or too basic for mathematicians, Game Theory: An Introduction, Second Edition offers a blend of theory and applications, allowing readers to use theory and software to create and analyze real-world decision-making models. With a rigorous, yet accessible, treatment of mathematics, the book focuses on results that can be used to determine optimal game strategies. Game Theory: An Introduction, Second Edition demonstrates how to use modern software, such as MapleTM, Mathematica®, and Gambit, to create, analyze, and implement effective decision-making models. Coverage includes the main aspects of game theory including the fundamentals of two-person zero-sum games, cooperative games, and population games as well as a large number of examples from various fields, such as economics, transportation, warfare, asset distribution, political science, and biology. The Second Edition features: • A new chapter on extensive games, which greatly expands the implementation of available models • New sections on correlated equilibria and exact formulas for three-player cooperative games • Many updated topics including threats in bargaining games and evolutionary stable strategies • Solutions and methods used to solve all odd-numbered problems • A companion website containing the related Maple and Mathematica data sets and code A trusted and proven guide for students of mathematics and economics, Game Theory: An Introduction, Second Edition is also an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners in economics, finance, engineering, operations research, statistics, and computer science.

This book is intended as an introduction to game theory which goes beyond the field of application, economics, and which introduces the reader to as many different sides of game theory as possible within the limitations of an introduction. The main goal is to give an impression of the diversity of game theoretical models, while at the same time covering the standard topics. The book has an equal coverage of non-cooperative and cooperative games, and it covers several topics such as selecting Nash equilibria, non-transferable utility games, applications of game theory to logic, combinatorial and differential games.

The mathematical theory of games was first developed as a model for situations of conflict, whether actual or recreational. It gained widespread recognition when it was applied to the theoretical study of economics by von Neumann and Morgenstern in Theory of Games and Economic Behavior in the 1940s. The later bestowal in 1994 of the Nobel Prize in economics on Nash underscores the important role this theory has played in the intellectual life of the twentieth century. This volume is based on courses given by the author at the University of Kansas. The exposition is "gentle" because it requires only some knowledge of coordinate geometry; linear programming is not used. It is "mathematical" because it is more concerned with the mathematical solution of games than with their applications. Existing textbooks on the topic tend to focus either on the applications or on the mathematics at a level that makes the works inaccessible to most non-mathematicians. This book nicely fits in between these two alternatives. It discusses examples and completely solves them with tools that require no more than high school algebra. In this text, proofs are provided for both von Neumann's Minimax Theorem and the existence of the Nash Equilibrium in the $2 \times 2$ case. Readers will gain both a sense of the range of applications and a better understanding of the theoretical framework of these two deep mathematical concepts.