ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 covers game theory when decisions are made versus an opponent. We assume rational players, simultaneous games with perfect knowledge in our presentation. We do cover both total conflict and partial conflict applications. Applications are presented covering the following:
Battle of the Bismarck Sea, Penalty kicks in soccer, Pitcher–Batter Duel in baseball, Operation Overlord, Choosing the right Course of Action, Cuban Missile Crisis, 2007–2008 Writer’s Guild Strike, Dark Money Network Game, and Course of Actions Revisited.
Conflict has been a central theme in human history. Conflict arises when two or more individuals with different views, goals, or aspirations compete to control the course of future events. Game theory studies competition. It uses mathematics and mathematical tools to study situations in which rational players are involved in conflict both with and without cooperation. The situation involves a conflict between the participants called players because some outcomes favor one player at the possible expense of the other players. What each player obtains from a particular outcome is called the player’s payoff. Each player can choose among a number of strategies to influence his payoff. However, each player’s payoff depends on the other players’ choices. We assume rational player’s desire to maximize their own payoffs.
