Mth 457 The Mathematical Theory of Games

Introduction to mathematical game theory and game theoretic analysis. Topics include: combinatorial and strategic games, Perfect Competition, Zermelo's Algorithm, Payoffs, cooperative and non-cooperative games, bargaining, mixed strategies, Nash Equilibrium, repeated games and finite automata, common knowledge and incomplete information, the prisoner's dilemma. Selected applications to economics, biology, computer science, and political science. This is the first course in a sequence of two: Mth 457 and Mth 458. Also offered for graduate-level credit as Mth 557 and may be taken only once for credit.