Game Theory: Understanding the Mathematics of Life

by Brian Clegg

Overview

Brian Clegg was always fascinated by Isaac Asimov's classic Foundation series of books, in which the future is predicted using sophisticated mathematical modelling of human psychology and behaviour.
Only much later did he realise that Asimov's 'psychohistory' had a real-world equivalent: game theory.
Originating in the study of probabilistic gambling games that depend on a random source - the throw of a dice or the toss of a coin - game theory soon came to be applied to human interactions: essentially, what was the best strategy to win, whatever you were doing? Its mathematical techniques have been applied, with varying degrees of wisdom, to fields such as economics, evolution, and questions such as how to win a nuclear war.
Clegg delves into game theory's colourful history and significant findings, and shows what we can all learn from this oft-misunderstood field of study.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785788338
Publisher:	Icon Books, Ltd. UK
Publication date:	04/21/2022
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	801 KB

About the Author

Brian Clegg's many books include Dice World and A Brief History of Infinity, both longlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize, and, most recently, Ten Days in Physics That Shook the World.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xiii

1 Games and the real world 1

2 Place your bets 13

3 Von Neumann's games 33

4 Reaching equilibrium 81

5 If at first you don't succeed 107

6 Going once, going twice 133

Further Reading 153

Index 155