Continuous Individual coursework (20%)

On learning central there are 9 online quizzes available to you.

You can submit as many times as you want.

Teaching Resource (Individual coursework - 20%)

Write a Jupyter notebook demonstrating your understanding of the use of Python for the study of the game theoretic topics covered in this module.

The target audience: students on this course.

Marking: The grades for this coursework will be marked on a piecewise linear curve to ensure approximately a third of the class have a grade above \(70%\) and resulting in a mean of \(60\pm \frac{25}{\sqrt{n}}\) (where \(n\) is the number of students in the class). For example, with a class of size \(n=80\) the mean mark will fall within the range \(60 \pm 2.8\).

Group project (60%)

Carry out a group research project using Game Theory. This can either be a theoretical exploration of a topic of Game Theory or an applied problem: investigating some interactive process using the tools of the course.

You will evidence your progress with 2 mediums:

1. A 2 page paper
2. A 15 minute recorded presentation

Your final submission should include the following 3 files:

1. A main.pdf file: the pdf file for a 2 page paper written in LaTeX.
2. A presentation.mp4 (or similar file format): the video recording of your 15 minute presentation
3. A contribution.md file: a file describing the contributions of every member of your group.

Marking criteria

2 Page Paper

• Summary: Has a clear description of the high-level work undertaken been given. [10%]
• A statement of need: Do the authors clearly state what problems their work is applied to. [10%]
• State of the field: Do the authors describe how any other work relates to theirs? [10%]
• Quality of writing: Is the paper well written (i.e., it does not require editing for structure, language, or writing quality)? [10%]
• References: Is the list of references complete, and is everything cited appropriately that should be cited (e.g., papers, datasets, software)? Do references in the text use the proper citation syntax? [10%]

15 Minute Presentation

• Scope: Are the details of the work clear? [10%]
• Theory: Is an understanding of relevant theory demonstrated? [10%]
• Code: Is code well written and appropriate? [10%]
• Accuracy: Is the work correct? [10%]
• Presentation: Was the presentation format used appropriately? Were the visual aids appropriate? [10%]

Examples of presentations are available at: vknight.org/pop/

Marking: The grades for this coursework will be marked on a piecewise linear curve to ensure approximately a third of the class have a grade above \(70%\) and resulting in a mean of \(60\pm \frac{25}{\sqrt{n}}\) (where \(n\) is the number of students in the class). For example, with a class of size \(n=80\) the mean mark will fall within the range \(60 \pm 2.8\).

Past group projects

A list of titles of past projects:

2023-2024

• Is Chess Dead? A Game Theoretic Investigation

• Using Replicator Dynamics to Model Seating Strategies in Abacws

• To Fish Or Not To Fish : Modelling Competition Between Fisheries

• Should I Stay? or Should I Go? The Game Theory of Divorce

• Connect 4: Is There a Strategy to Beat All Strategies?

• Size matter: Relating sizes to herbivores strategies in biosystem

• Evolutionary Stability of Fast Passes in Theme Parks

• Fight or Flight: Are the odds really in your favour?

• The Optimal Strategy for Mastering Card-Jitsu

• The Study of Gossip using Evolutionary Game Theory

• Climate Conundrums: A Game Theoretic Approach to Global Climate Agreements

• The Art of War: Applying Game Theory to Risk

• Exploring Auction Theory

• Bats and their drinking habits: A study into the emergence of altruism

• Modelling Risk

• Is Makeup a Game That Can Be Played?

• Beyond Golden Balls

• Duopoly Price Wars

• Analysis of F1 Pit Stop Strategies

• How Shopping Trolleys Determine A Society?

• Hotel of Hazards: Spy Survival

2022-2023

• A game theoretic model for the spread of bird flu

• Does Crime-Pay? Co-Evolution of Insider Trading and its Regulation

• Modelling Monster Hunter World Using Replicator Dynamics

• Money Exchange Game

• A game theoretical analysis of strategy steps

• Should a Country Prioritize Military Spending at the Expense of Economic Growth?

• Using the Moran Process to Cast Dating Shows

• An exploration of University Project Strategies

• How to survive the Werewolves

• Global Co-Operation: Central to Addressing Climate Change

• A visualisation of evolutionary processes using the hawk and dove game

• Game Theory: End Game Chess

• A Game Theoretic Analysis of Netflix’s Decision to Ban Password Sharing

• Dirty Dilemmas; Exploring Game Theory in the Dishwashing Dynamics of Shared Households

• Academic vs Alcohol: An Investigation into Student Drinking Habits

• The Traitors: Support or Betray

• Exploring the Applications of Game Theory to Chessboxing

• An Exploration of the Game Theory in Mahjong

• Game Theory for optimal portfolio selection

• The Evolution of Online Dating: Examining the Unique Approaches of Tinder and Hinge

• Game Theory of Interview Scheduling

• The Game Theory of playing Hard to get

• Liar’s Dice: a game of deceit

• Decision making in Cricket Based on Weather Conditions Using Game Theory

• Modelling penalties effectively with use of probability

• Is Cheat Really the Name of the Game?

• Analyze the Best Move in a Five-in-a-row Endgame

2021-2022

• The domestication of foxes through game theory

• Noughts and Crosses

• Love or money (Love Island)

• A game theory investigation of chess openings

• How engagement in social media can effect news

• Fairness and game theory

• What if there was a 4th strategy to rock paper scissors?

• Going once, going twice… Sold! To the best player.

• Applying game theory from the cold war to modern day.

• Representing the dollar auction using game theory.

• Which price setting strategy is best for competing companies to maximise profit: price war or price match guarantee

• The evolution of Twenty20 cricket

• Prisoner’s dilemma: applying Axelrod’s strategies to Amazon Prime versus Netflix

• Analysing Wales’ decision to enter lockdown in response to England’s strategy during the COVID 19 pandemic

• Maximising profit in a duopoly market

• An iterated three person prisoner’s dilemma

• Game theory of tennis

• Vaccines if you please

• A Monte Carlo analysis on the effects of the morality metrics in the iterated prisoners dilemma.

• Cheating at a two player card game with a probability of being caught

• Does self interest optimise public good?

• Investigating a replicator dynamics model of Frank’s Zoo

• The effect of implementing a budget cap on the Premier league

• Can game theory explain football player prices?

• Effective strategies in competitive bargaining tournaments

Log of past relevant classes

05/21/24: Overview of assessment performance

In this post I will discuss the performance of the class:

04/16/24: Individual Coursework Feedback

I have marked the individual coursework and the overall performance is impressive: the average mark is 85%.

02/16/24: Mid module feedback and meetings

On Tuesday we had two class. We went through your mid module feedback and had a brief discussion about meetings.

07/04/23: Overview of group coursework performance

The group coursework is a difficult assessment marked on a difficult scale. Summary of the class marks are here:

03/21/23: Discussing the individual coursework

In class today we discussed the individual coursework. I did my best to take all questions and ensure everyone understood what each question is asking for.

02/23/23: Mid module feedback

On Friday you spent some time filling in the mid module feedback for Game Theory. Here I will go over some of the recurring points raised.

02/14/23: Valentines day

In today’s class we spoke about a deadline for the individual coursework but spent most of our time taking the initial steps that a research project would take to model gift giving for Valentines day.

Source code: @drvinceknight Powered by: Jekyll Github pages Bootsrap css