http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gametheory.

asp

Game theory is the study of human conflict and cooperation within a competitive
situation. In some respects, game theory is the science of strategy, or at least the optimal
decision-making of independent and competing actors in a strategic setting.

Game theory creates a language and formal structure of analysis for making logical
decisions in competitive environments. The term game can be misleading. Even though
game theory applies to recreational games, the concept of game simply means any
interactive situation in which independent actors share more-or-less formal rules and
consequences.

The formal application of game theory requires knowledge of the following details: the
identity of independent actors, their preferences, what they know, which strategic acts they
are allowed to make, and how each decision influences the outcome of the game.
Depending on the model, various other requirements or assumptions may be necessary.
Finally, each independent actor is assumed to be rational.

Game theory has a wide range of applications, including psychology, evolutionary biology,
war, politics, economics and business. Despite its many advances, game theory is still a
young and developing science.

http://www.cdam.lse.ac.uk/Reports/Files/cdam-2001-09.pdf

Game theory is the formal study of conflict and cooperation. Game theoretic concepts
apply whenever the actions of several agents are interdependent. These agents may be
individuals, groups, firms, or any combination of these. The concepts of game theory
provide a language to formulate, structure, analyze, and understand strategic scenarios.

Game theory is the formal study of decision-making where several players must make
choices that potentially affect the interests of the other players.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/game-theory.html

Set of concepts aimed at decision making in situations of competition and conflict (as well as
of cooperation and interdependence) under specified rules. Game theory employs games of
strategy (such as chess) but not of chance (such as rolling a dice). A strategic game
represents a situation where two or more participants are faced with choices of action, by
which each may gain or lose, depending on what others choose to do or not to do. The final
outcome of a game, therefore, is determined jointly by the strategies chosen by all
participants. These are also situations of uncertainty because no participant knows for sure
what the other participants are going to decide.

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/game-theory

A mathematical method of making decisions in which a competitivesituation is analyzed to

determine the optimal course of action for aninterested party. Game theory is often used
in political, economic, andmilitary planning.
One of the principal aims of game theory is to determine the optimum strategy for dealing
with a given situation or confrontation. This can involve such goals as maximizing one's
gains, maximizing the probability that a specific goal can be reached, minimizing one's risks
or losses, or inflicting the greatest possible damage on adversaries.

https://www.cs.umd.edu/~nau/cmsc421/game-theory.pdf

http://www.enggjournals.com/ijcse/doc/IJCSE10-02-09-031.pdf

CONCLUSION In this paper I studied the different types of games and their technique of
optimization using examples and theoretical concepts. Using Graphical and Linear
Programming Methods to optimize two person zero-sum games one of the conclusion that
can be drawn is that since graphical methods are applicable to only games where at least
one of the players has only two strategies. This hinders the use of graphical methods in
applications and real life problems since hardly any game involves players with limited
strategy. On the other hand every game can be represented as a Linear Program and
hence can be optimized as a linear programming problem of maximization or
minimization. The presence of the dual of a Linear Programming Problem facilitates the
use of linear programming since using one objective function and solving for it the
objective of the other player can also be found. From an algorithmic point of view linear
programming is more feasible compared to graphical methods since it is modular in nature
and works step by step.

At the start of this literature review, the topic of game theory was introduced, with the
origins of game theory, applications through to the types of games that exist.

Then the literature review went on to discuss how optimal strategies and payoffs were
determined. The solutions that the discussed were of a graphical and algebraic nature and
examples were shown. Following on, linear programming was discussed stating what linear
programming was, by providing an example. A method of linear programming, called
simplex method was discussed in depth as it is a method for working out optimal solutions
for players strategies. An example using simplex method was also shown, and went through
step by step discussing, how players optimal strategies and payoffs were determined.

A comparison can be made between the solutions available in determining optimal

strategies and payoffs, in two person zero-sum matrix games. The solutions of games with
saddle point are simple to solve, as are two by two matrix games with no saddle points.
However 2*N and M*2 (and effectively M*N) matrix games are not so simple to solve as
with the graphical method, there is no algorithm presently available.

Although there is no algorithm available to compute optimal strategies and payoffs in N*M
matrix games, linear programming is an avenue that can be explored, as the simplex method
can be applied to determine optimal strategies and payoffs in N*M matrix games.