Game Theory: Thinking in Positive and Negative Possibilities

Ever since you were a child you have unknowingly used game theory. When your parents gave you the option to choose a candy bar, your brain started thinking of all the possibilities that depended on which candy you chose. You would think which one would taste better, make your feel better, and maybe be healthier for you. In the end, you would narrow your choices down to one piece of candy and eat it happily. Game theory is the use of theory to think through all of the positive and negative possibilities that could happen in a problem and try to maximize the positive. Game theory is not just one theory, throughout the years is has spread into six main games. These games are: zero sum games, non-zero sum games, simultaneous move games, sequential move games, one-shot games, and repeated games. Each of these games will be covered more in depth in this essay, with the exception of zero-sum games. Dalton will be writing about the zero-sum game in his essay.

History is a very important key when trying to figure out what exactly game theory is. Game theory was officially discovered by John Von Nueman and Oskar Morgenstern in 1944. Although those two brilliant men are credited with the discovery, game theory was being used centuries before it was written down. In 500 A.D, the Talmud used the idea of game theory when giving a problem about the different ways to distribute a mans estate to his three wives. Many other well know people used game theory before it was officially recognized. For example, Socrates found that Plato used game theory in two of his works, those works that Socrates spoke about are called “Laches” and “Symposium”. Hemán Cortés, a Spanish explorer, destroyed all of his ships when conquering a new land to make sure t...

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...not ratting each other out. Which will result in the two prisoners trusting each other and then understanding that they need to keep quiet. In the end the repeated game is trying the game many times and finding the right pattern to complete the game.

Game theory is the use of thinking through all the positive and negative outcomes of a situation. People everyday use game theory to help solve problems and make decisions. Those who work in business use game theory to help make important decisions about furthering their market and beating the competition. Also, people do not just use game theory, they use the six different branches of game theory. Those branches are: zero sum games, non-zero sum games, simultaneous move games, sequential move games, one-shot games, and repeated games. Overall, game theory is a very interesting and helpful math technique to know.