SCIT1003
INTRODUCTORY GAME THEORY
FOR SUCCESSES IN BUSINESS
AND LIFE
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Instructor information
Prof. Ken Tsang
Room E409-R9
Email:kentsang[at]uic.edu.hk
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TA information
Mr Han Fu
Room E409 Tel: 3620630
hanfu@uic.edu.hk
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Web-link for this class
http://www.uic.edu.hk/~kentsang/gt2014/gt2014.htm
also linked through iSpace
As an official communication channel to all students
- Download lectures, or reading materials
- Announcement of assignment, quiz, mid-term test
- Posting solutions to assignment, quiz, mid-term
test
- …
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Tutorials

One hour each week
 Time & place to be announced later (we need
your input)

More explanations
 More examples
 More exercises
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SCIT1003
INTRODUCTORY GAME THEORY …
Is part of Mathematical Literacy in a modern
World.
• This course stresses the prevalence, relevance,
and practicality of GAME THEORY in modern
society.
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What is mathematics?
“Mathematics sets the standard of objective truth
for all intellectual endeavors, science and
technology bear witness to its practical usefulness.
Besides language and music, it is one of the
primary manifestations of the free creative power
of the human mind, and it is the universal organ for
world-understanding through theoretical
construction. Mathematics must therefore remain
an essential element of the knowledge and abilities
which we have to teach, of the culture we have to
transmit, to the next generation.”
--Hermann Weyl
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“The great book of nature can be
read only by those who know the
language in which it is written, and
this language is mathematics”
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In Galileo’s time “The great book of
Nature” he referred to was just the
physical world.
Today, the human society is also regarded
as part of the Nature and can be studied by
mathematics.
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Nobel Prize laureates in Economics
1994
John Harsanyi
John Nash
Reinhard Selten
2005
"for having enhanced our understanding
Robert Aumann
Thomas Schelling of conflict and cooperation through
game-theory analysis."
contributions to social choice theory,
notably "Arrow's impossibility theorem"
Robert C. Merton "for a new method to determine the
value of derivatives."
Myron Scholes
Robert F. Engle "for methods of analyzing economic time
series with time-varying volatility”
Lloyd Shapley "for the theory of stable allocations and the
practice of market design.“
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1972 Kenneth Arrow
1997
2003
2012
"for their pioneering analysis of
equilibria in the theory of noncooperative games."
What will you learn in this class?
How to solve daily problems using Game
Theory in steps:
1. Identify if the problem is solvable by
Game Theory
2. Simplify the problem by abstraction
3. Analyze it with logic
4. Determine if there is any solution
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Our emphasis
• Training in Logical reasoning
• NOT tedious computation
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Some tips to maximize your chances for
success in this class?
Work hard, more importantly, work smart:
1. Understand, don't memorize.
2. Ask why, not how.
3. See every problem as a challenge.
4. Learn techniques, not results.
5. Make sure you understand each topic before
going on to the next.
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How is your final grade determined?
10%
10%
40%
10%
30%
Some flexibility to determine your “Continuous Assessment”
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Oral and Group Presentation (1)
• Choose your teammates
• 4-5 members in one team
• Submit your group form (names & proposed
topic) in October
• Study rubric for oral presentation (1)

Choose a topic for your team

Prepare your PPT

Oral presentation will be given (roughly) on
the 8th week (Nov 2014)
Text book-- The Art of Strategy:
A Game Theorist's Guide to
Success in Business and Life
by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J.
Nalebuff
Publisher: W. W. Norton &
Company (January 4, 2010)
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TIME TABLE of PROF. TSANG -2014Fall-
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