UF students learn about game theory

"Game theory" can be applied to almost everything, says retired math professor Dr. Pam Wharton. Wharton retired from the University of Findlay's math department in 2022 after 16 years teaching. She started the Euler Math Club and served as the chair of the department from 2009 to 2017. Wharton was the guest speaker for the University of Findlay's annual Math Day event. Game theory is the principle of interactive decision making, where the outcome is decided by the actions of every "player" or participant, defines Public Broadcasting Service. "Biology, evolution, predator-prey models, gambling, sports, war," Wharton said. Bidding at an auction, negotiations, the stock market, politics, and even dating can be studied using game theory. Wharton, during her presentation, gave the audience a real life example of this theory, by using students from the audience. "We are going to do the most famous example in game theory, called (the) Prisoners' Dilemma," Wharton explained. Two University of Findlay students, Sidney and Lindsey, were called up to the stage. "You're going to rob (an) electronics store, someone called the police and tipped them off, and they found you both skulking around in the back of the electronics store, (and) you're both arrested for trespassing," continued the retired professor. As the would-be robbers are put into separate interrogation rooms, detectives give them each the same deal: if they both stay quiet they'll go to jail for one month on trespassing charges. If one confesses, the other will go to jail for one year and the confessor will go free. If both confess, their testimony is worthless, so they'll each go to jail for eight months. Wharton looked at the girls' answers. "They both put 'quiet,'" she said. It's unusual, Wharton said, for players to both choose to stay quiet. "It's been found that the only people who say 'quiet' are people who have the community as a whole in their best interests," she explained. "People that have their own personal interests in their mind typically say 'confess.'" Wharton explained the mathematical theory by showing the audience a diagram of each strategy the player could take. "A Nash Equilibrium is the strategy that maximizes the players' payoff, given the strategies used by other players," she said. Each player has an incentive to confess, but by doing so, they end up with a worse outcome than if they helped each other by staying quiet. The Prisoner's Dilemma, along with game theory and the Nash Equilibrium, have been used to study animal behavior, psychology, economics, politics, and sports. Some games Wharton recommended to strengthen strategic thinking were chess; "Azul," a tile-placement game; and "Catan." "Games are a waste of time? Absolutely not," she said. "They can improve your problem-solving skills. They can improve your strategic thinking." The University of Findlay celebrates Math Day with a different topic every year. For more information about UF's Math Day event, contact Rikki Youngpeter at fredrika.youngpeter@findlay.edu