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game theory: Quick Facts

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A colorful payoff matrix for a normal form game in game theory, showing strategy options-support, oppose, evade-for both party A and party B. Each cell contains cartoon figures representing each party's action and lists percentage payoffs for A and B. The bottom-right cell is labeled saddlepoint, highlighting the equilibrium.
A payoff matrix diagram for game theory shows a safe-cracker choosing between robbing two safes and a guard choosing to protect one; each cell illustrates who gets the money depending on their choices, with outcomes ranging from nothing stolen to $100,000 stolen, and no single optimal strategy for either player.
A diagram showing a variable-sum payoff matrix from game theory, with player A in red and player B in blue, displaying four outcome boxes with different numerical payoffs for each player based on their choices.
A diagram illustrating the prisoners' dilemma in game theory, showing two prisoners, A and B, with four possible outcomes based on whether each confesses or remains silent. Years of prison time are indicated for each scenario, with visual icons showing happy or sad prisoners in cells or free.
A biological payoff matrix for game theory showing outcomes when hawk, dove, and bourgeois strategies compete, with colored bird icons and cells listing offspring gains or losses for each interaction.
Diagram illustrating game theory concepts in voting, showing a grid of possible voting strategies for two voters, Y and Z, each with different candidate preferences, and indicating outcomes such as which candidate wins and which strategies are dominated.
Diagram illustrating a game theory scenario in voting, showing two voters with different candidate preferences and a matrix of voting outcomes. Voter Y prefers y over z over x, and voter Z prefers z over x over y. The matrix displays possible votes, with outcomes labeled as x wins, z wins, and dominated strategy.
prisoner's dilemma in game theory
See how game theory applies to the peacock's tail evolution
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Key People

John von Neumann
John von Neumann
American mathematician
Riker, William
William Riker
American political scientist
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Thomas C. Schelling
American economist
John Nash
John Nash
American mathematician
Lloyd Shapley, 2012.
Lloyd Shapley
American mathematician
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Émile Borel
French mathematician
Alvin E. Roth.
Alvin E. Roth
American economist
Blackwell, David
David Blackwell
American statistician and mathematician
Aumann, Robert J.
Robert J. Aumann
Israeli mathematician
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John C. Harsanyi
American economist
Selten, Reinhard
Reinhard Selten
German mathematician
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Richard E. Stearns
American mathematician and computer scientist
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R.B. Braithwaite
British philosopher
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Oskar Morgenstern
German-American economist