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A Gentle Introduction to Game Theory
 
Saul Stahl University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
A Gentle Introduction to Game Theory
Softcover ISBN:  978-0-8218-1339-3
Product Code:  MAWRLD/13
List Price: $49.00
MAA Member Price: $44.10
AMS Member Price: $39.20
eBook ISBN:  978-1-4704-1192-3
Product Code:  MAWRLD/13.E
List Price: $45.00
MAA Member Price: $40.50
AMS Member Price: $36.00
Softcover ISBN:  978-0-8218-1339-3
eBook: ISBN:  978-1-4704-1192-3
Product Code:  MAWRLD/13.B
List Price: $94.00 $71.50
MAA Member Price: $84.60 $64.35
AMS Member Price: $75.20 $57.20
A Gentle Introduction to Game Theory
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A Gentle Introduction to Game Theory
Saul Stahl University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Softcover ISBN:  978-0-8218-1339-3
Product Code:  MAWRLD/13
List Price: $49.00
MAA Member Price: $44.10
AMS Member Price: $39.20
eBook ISBN:  978-1-4704-1192-3
Product Code:  MAWRLD/13.E
List Price: $45.00
MAA Member Price: $40.50
AMS Member Price: $36.00
Softcover ISBN:  978-0-8218-1339-3
eBook ISBN:  978-1-4704-1192-3
Product Code:  MAWRLD/13.B
List Price: $94.00 $71.50
MAA Member Price: $84.60 $64.35
AMS Member Price: $75.20 $57.20
  • Book Details
     
     
    Mathematical World
    Volume: 131999; 176 pp
    MSC: Primary 90

    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.

    Readership

    Undergraduates in any area, interested in game theory.

  • Table of Contents
     
     
    • Chapters
    • Chapter 1. Introduction
    • Chapter 2. The formal defintions
    • Chapter 3. Optimal responses to specific strategies
    • Chapter 4. The maximin strategy
    • Chapter 5. The minimax strategy
    • Chapter 6. Solutions of zero-sum games
    • Chapter 7. $2 \times n$ and $m x\times 2$ games
    • Chapter 8. Dominance
    • Chapter 9. Symmetric games
    • Chapter 10. Poker-like games
    • Chapter 11. Pure maximin and minimax strategies
    • Chapter 12. Pure nonzero-sum games
    • Chapter 13. Mixed strategies for nonzero-sum games
    • Chapter 14. Finding mixed Nash equilibria for $2 \times 2$ nonzero-sum games
  • Additional Material
     
     
  • Reviews
     
     
    • This book is an excellent introduction to the mathematical aspects of game theory for beginners without a background in calculus.

      Journal of Mathematical Psychology
    • Game theory, in the sense of von Neumann and Morgenstern, studies models of competition in situations of uncertainty. It provides a means for both deriving desirable strategies and explaining naturally occurring behavior; it finds applications ranging from economics and politics to evolutionary biology. All this and its intrinsic human interest (read here how it elucidates the outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis) make it a favorite undergraduate topic, particularly for students majoring outside mathematics. There is not a faster read in the realm of higher mathematics. Recommended for college libraries. Undergraduates and up.

      CHOICE
  • Requests
     
     
    Review Copy – for publishers of book reviews
    Desk Copy – for instructors who have adopted an AMS textbook for a course
    Examination Copy – for faculty considering an AMS textbook for a course
    Permission – for use of book, eBook, or Journal content
    Accessibility – to request an alternate format of an AMS title
Volume: 131999; 176 pp
MSC: Primary 90

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.

Readership

Undergraduates in any area, interested in game theory.

  • Chapters
  • Chapter 1. Introduction
  • Chapter 2. The formal defintions
  • Chapter 3. Optimal responses to specific strategies
  • Chapter 4. The maximin strategy
  • Chapter 5. The minimax strategy
  • Chapter 6. Solutions of zero-sum games
  • Chapter 7. $2 \times n$ and $m x\times 2$ games
  • Chapter 8. Dominance
  • Chapter 9. Symmetric games
  • Chapter 10. Poker-like games
  • Chapter 11. Pure maximin and minimax strategies
  • Chapter 12. Pure nonzero-sum games
  • Chapter 13. Mixed strategies for nonzero-sum games
  • Chapter 14. Finding mixed Nash equilibria for $2 \times 2$ nonzero-sum games
  • This book is an excellent introduction to the mathematical aspects of game theory for beginners without a background in calculus.

    Journal of Mathematical Psychology
  • Game theory, in the sense of von Neumann and Morgenstern, studies models of competition in situations of uncertainty. It provides a means for both deriving desirable strategies and explaining naturally occurring behavior; it finds applications ranging from economics and politics to evolutionary biology. All this and its intrinsic human interest (read here how it elucidates the outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis) make it a favorite undergraduate topic, particularly for students majoring outside mathematics. There is not a faster read in the realm of higher mathematics. Recommended for college libraries. Undergraduates and up.

    CHOICE
Review Copy – for publishers of book reviews
Desk Copy – for instructors who have adopted an AMS textbook for a course
Examination Copy – for faculty considering an AMS textbook for a course
Permission – for use of book, eBook, or Journal content
Accessibility – to request an alternate format of an AMS title
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