PREFACE
Game Theory studies the behavior of decision-makers ("players") whose
decisions affect each other. As in one-person decision theory, the analysis is
from a rational, rather than a psychological or sociological viewpoint. The term
"garne" stems from the formal resemblance of these interactive decision
problems to parlour games such as Chess, Bridge, Poker, Monopoly, Diplomacy,
or Battleship. To date, the largest single area of application has been
economics; other important connections are with political science (on both the
national and international levels), evolutionary biology, computer science, the
foundations of mathematics, statistics, accounting, social psychology, law, and
branches of philosophy such as epistemology and ethics. The applications are
supported by a sizeable body of pure theory that is significant and important in
its own right. Needless to say, the relation is two-sided: the theory influences -
and is influenced by- the applications, both in the questions asked and in the
answers provided.
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