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Matrix Games / Normal Form

Course subject(s) Module 1: Matrix games/ Normal forms

Lecture_Slides_Chapter_1.pdf The Nature of Games. The general characteristics of ``game`` situations and how to solve them using movement diagrams

Lecture_Slides_Chapter_2.pdf Dominance and Saddle Points. A saddle point is an equilibrium, a mutual best-response of the players to each others' strategies, and can be found using movement diagrams (among other methods).

Lecture_Slides_Chapter_3.pdf Mixed Strategies. For each strategy, a player sets the probability that he will play it. This chapter also gives you three ways of solving games with mixed strategies: equalizing expectations, William's oddments, and the graphical method.

Lecture_Slides_Chapter_4.pdf Application to Anthropology: Jamaican Fishing. A real world example is analyzed using saddle points and mixed strategies. Here it also becomes clear how the game theory techniques are actually embedded within a broader discussion of research questions and how to answer them.

Lecture_Slides_Chapter_5.pdf Application to Warfare: Guerrillas, Police, and Missiles. These application activities show how a game can be constructed from a problem description. It also leads to a discussion of the limitations of the matrix representation and of zero-sum games in general.

Lecture_Slides_on_Excel_Solver.pdf This lecture explains how to use Microsoft excel spreadsheets to calculate solutions for games, for linear programs in general, and introduces sensitivity analysis.

Lecture_Slides_on_Linear_Programming_and_Zero-Sum_Games.pdf In this lecture you will learn how to rewrite a game as a linear programming optimization problem. The concept of duality is also introduced.

Lecture_Slides_on_Actor_Models.pdf Guest lecturer Leon Hermans gives an overview of a whole range of actor models, categorizes them, and shows how game theory relates to actor modeling.

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