The Mathematics of Decisions, Elections, and Games

The Mathematics of Decisions, Elections, and Games PDF Author: Karl-Dieter Crisman
Publisher: American Mathematical Society
ISBN: 0821898663
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
This volume contains the proceedings of two AMS Special Sessions on The Mathematics of Decisions, Elections, and Games, held January 4, 2012, in Boston, MA, and January 11-12, 2013, in San Diego, CA. Decision theory, voting theory, and game theory are three intertwined areas of mathematics that involve making optimal decisions under different contexts. Although these areas include their own mathematical results, much of the recent research in these areas involves developing and applying new perspectives from their intersection with other branches of mathematics, such as algebra, representation theory, combinatorics, convex geometry, dynamical systems, etc. The papers in this volume highlight and exploit the mathematical structure of decisions, elections, and games to model and to analyze problems from the social sciences.

The Mathematics of Decisions, Elections, and Games

The Mathematics of Decisions, Elections, and Games PDF Author: Karl-Dieter Crisman
Publisher: American Mathematical Society
ISBN: 0821898663
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume contains the proceedings of two AMS Special Sessions on The Mathematics of Decisions, Elections, and Games, held January 4, 2012, in Boston, MA, and January 11-12, 2013, in San Diego, CA. Decision theory, voting theory, and game theory are three intertwined areas of mathematics that involve making optimal decisions under different contexts. Although these areas include their own mathematical results, much of the recent research in these areas involves developing and applying new perspectives from their intersection with other branches of mathematics, such as algebra, representation theory, combinatorics, convex geometry, dynamical systems, etc. The papers in this volume highlight and exploit the mathematical structure of decisions, elections, and games to model and to analyze problems from the social sciences.

Mathematical Analyses of Decisions, Voting and Games

Mathematical Analyses of Decisions, Voting and Games PDF Author: Michael A. Jones
Publisher: American Mathematical Society
ISBN: 1470469782
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
This volume contains the proceedings of the virtual AMS Special Session on Mathematics of Decisions, Elections and Games, held on April 8, 2022. Decision theory, voting theory, and game theory are three related areas of mathematics that involve making optimal decisions in different contexts. While these three areas are distinct, much of the recent research in these fields borrows techniques from other branches of mathematics such as algebra, combinatorics, convex geometry, logic, representation theory, etc. The papers in this volume demonstrate how the mathematics of decisions, elections, and games can be used to analyze problems from the social sciences.

Decisions and Elections

Decisions and Elections PDF Author: Donald Saari
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521004046
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
It is not uncommon to be frustrated by the outcome of an election or a decision in voting, law, economics, engineering, and other fields. Does this 'bad' result reflect poor data or poorly informed voters? Or does the disturbing conclusion reflect the choice of the decision/election procedure? Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow's famed theorem has been interpreted to mean 'no decision procedure is without flaws'. Similarly, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen dashes hope for individual liberties by showing their incompatibility with societal needs. This highly accessible book offers a new, different interpretation and resolution of Arrow's and Sen's theorems. Using simple mathematics, it shows that these negative conclusions arise because, in each case, some of their assumptions negate other crucial assumptions. Once this is understood, not only do the conclusions become expected, but a wide class of other phenomena can also be anticipated.

Coordinate Systems for Games

Coordinate Systems for Games PDF Author: Daniel T. Jessie
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303035847X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
This monograph develops a method of creating convenient coordinate systems for game theory that will allow readers to more easily understand, analyze, and create games at various levels of complexity. By identifying the unique characterization of games that separates the individual’s strategic interests from the group’s collective behavior, the authors construct a single analytical methodology that readers will be able to apply to a wide variety of games. With its emphasis on practicality and approachability, readers will find this book an invaluable tool, and a viable alternative to the ad hoc analytical approach that has become customary for researchers utilizing game theory. The introductory chapters serve two important purposes: they review several games of fundamental importance, and also introduce a dynamic that is inherent in games, but has gone unexplored until now. After this has been established, readers will advance from simple 2 x 2 games to games with more player strategies and dynamics. For interested readers, a rigorous treatment of the underlying mathematics is conveniently gathered at the end of the book. Additional topics of interest, such as extensive form and coalitional games, are presented to help readers visualize more complex settings that will be vital in aiding the understanding of advanced topics, such as coalition-free Nash points, multi-player repeated games, and more. Coordinate Systems for Games is ideal for a wide variety of researchers interested in game theory, including social scientists, economists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and more. The authors' approachable style also makes this accessible to an audience at any scale of experience, from beginning non-specialists to more practiced researchers.

Chaotic Elections!

Chaotic Elections! PDF Author: Donald Saari
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 9780821886168
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
What does the 2000 U.S. presidential election have in common with selecting a textbook for a calculus course in your department? Was Ralph Nader's influence on the election of George W. Bush greater than the now-famous chads? In Chaotic Elections!, Don Saari analyzes these questions, placing them in the larger context of voting systems in general. His analysis shows that the fundamental problems with the 2000 presidential election are not with the courts, recounts, or defective ballots, but are caused by the very way Americans vote for president. This expository book shows how mathematics can help to identify and characterize a disturbingly large number of paradoxical situations that result from the choice of a voting procedure. Moreover, rather than being able to dismiss them as anomalies, the likelihood of a dubious election result is surprisingly large. These consequences indicate that election outcomes--whether for president, the site of the next Olympics, the chair of a university department, or a prize winner--can differ from what the voters really wanted. They show that by using an inadequate voting procedure, we can, inadvertently, choose badly. To add to the difficulties, it turns out that the mathematical structures of voting admit several strategic opportunities, which are described. Finally, mathematics also helps identify positive results: By using mathematical symmetries, we can identify what the phrase ``what the voters really want'' might mean and obtain a unique voting method that satisfies these conditions. Saari's book should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand not only what happened in the presidential election of 2000, but also how we can avoid similar problems from appearing anytime any group is making a choice using a voting procedure. Reading this book requires little more than high school mathematics and an interest in how the apparently simple situation of voting can lead to surprising paradoxes.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Game Theory

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Game Theory PDF Author: Edward C. Rosenthal Ph.D.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101478845
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
Gain some insight into the game of life... Game Theory means rigorous strategic thinking. It is based on the idea that everyone acts competitively and in his own best interest. With the help of mathematical models, it is possible to anticipate the actions of others in nearly all life's enterprises. This book includes down-to-earth examples and solutions, as well as charts and illustrations designed to help teach the concept. In The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Game Theory, Dr. Edward C. Rosenthal makes it easy to understand game theory with insights into: • The history of the discipline made popular by John Nash, the mathematician dramatized in the film A Beautiful Mind • The role of social behavior and psychology in this amazing discipline • How important game theory has become in our society and why

Game Theory and Politics

Game Theory and Politics PDF Author: Steven J. Brams
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486143635
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
DIVMany illuminating and instructive examples of the applications of game theoretic models to problems in political science appear in this volume, which requires minimal mathematical background. 1975 edition. 24 figures. /div

The Oxford Handbook of Public Choice

The Oxford Handbook of Public Choice PDF Author: Roger D. Congleton
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190469730
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 985

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Book Description
"This two-volume collection provides a comprehensive overview of the past seventy years of public choice research, written by experts in the fields surveyed. The individual chapters are more than simple surveys, but provide readers with both a sense of the progress made and puzzles that remain. Most are written with upper level undergraduate and graduate students in economics and political science in mind, but many are completely accessible to non-expert readers who are interested in Public Choice research. The two-volume set will be of broad interest to social scientists, policy analysts, and historians"--

Mathematics and Democracy

Mathematics and Democracy PDF Author: Steven J. Brams
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400835593
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Voters today often desert a preferred candidate for a more viable second choice to avoid wasting their vote. Likewise, parties to a dispute often find themselves unable to agree on a fair division of contested goods. In Mathematics and Democracy, Steven Brams, a leading authority in the use of mathematics to design decision-making processes, shows how social-choice and game theory could make political and social institutions more democratic. Using mathematical analysis, he develops rigorous new procedures that enable voters to better express themselves and that allow disputants to divide goods more fairly. One of the procedures that Brams proposes is "approval voting," which allows voters to vote for as many candidates as they like or consider acceptable. There is no ranking, and the candidate with the most votes wins. The voter no longer has to consider whether a vote for a preferred but less popular candidate might be wasted. In the same vein, Brams puts forward new, more equitable procedures for resolving disputes over divisible and indivisible goods.

The Mathematics of Politics

The Mathematics of Politics PDF Author: E. Arthur Robinson
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1498798888
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
It is because mathematics is often misunderstood, it is commonly believed it has nothing to say about politics. The high school experience with mathematics, for so many the lasting impression of the subject, suggests that mathematics is the study of numbers, operations, formulas, and manipulations of symbols. Those believing this is the extent of mathematics might conclude mathematics has no relevance to politics. This book counters this impression. The second edition of this popular book focuses on mathematical reasoning about politics. In the search for ideal ways to make certain kinds of decisions, a lot of wasted effort can be averted if mathematics can determine that finding such an ideal is actually impossible in the first place. In the first three parts of this book, we address the following three political questions: (1) Is there a good way to choose winners of elections? (2) Is there a good way to apportion congressional seats? (3) Is there a good way to make decisions in situations of conflict and uncertainty? In the fourth and final part of this book, we examine the Electoral College system that is used in the United States to select a president. There we bring together ideas that are introduced in each of the three earlier parts of the book.