Content about “

game theory

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This article casts a mathematical eye over a famous non-game enjoyed by thousands of people up and down the UK every week.

A mathematical "paradox" explains why more roads don't necessarily mean fewer traffic jams.

Yes, it does. And we have the maths to prove it.

How to never lose when playing tic-tac-toe the other way around.

Why game theory is a serious business.

In the game of Nim one player always has a winning strategy — it depends on an unusual way of adding numbers.

Disputes over property are all too common. It's quite easy to share a cake, but how do you share out indivisible goods, such as houses or cars, without causing resentment? Here are two easy methods.

A 1 in 14 million chance to win the lottery, a 5% risk of cancer, a 50:50 chance of heads on a coin — we deal with probabilities all the time, but do they actually mean anything? We explore the philosophy of probability and ask whether the probabilities that come up in physics differ from those in every day life.

Are there objective chances in the world?

Is poker a game of psychology and cunning rather than strategy? We investigate the maths of bluffing.

Would you stake your fortune on a 100 to 1 outsider? Probably not. But what if, somewhere in a parallel universe, the straggling nag does come in first? Would the pleasure you feel in that universe outweigh the pain you feel in the one in which you've lost? Questions not dissimilar to this one occupy physicists and for entirely respectable reasons.

In the previous article we explored how a clever argument involving gambling makes the idea that there are parallel universes more credible. But does it really?