AGTA - Course Materials
Lecture 1 - 12 January 2026
Slides: What is Game Theory?
No required reading.
Some reference texts for the entire course (see slides of lecture 1 for a more comprehensive list):
- M. Maschler, E. Solan, and S. Zamir, Game Theory , Cambridge U. Press, 2013.
(Available online from the University Library.) - N. Nisan, T. Roughgarden, E. Tardos, and V. Vazirani, Algorithmic Game Theory, Cambridge U. Press, 2007.
(Available online from the University library.) - Y. Shoham and K. Leyton-Brown, "Multi-agent Systems: algorithmic, game-theoretic, and logical foundations", 2009. (MAS)
(Available online from the University library.) - T. Roughgarden. Twenty Lectures on Algorithmic Game Theory, Cambridge U. Press, 2016.
(Available online from the University library.)
Lecture 2 & Lecture 3 - 15th and 19th of January 2026
Slides for Lecture 2: Mixed Strategies, Expected Payoffs, and Nash Equilibrium.
Slides for Lecture 3: Nash's Theorem.
Reading for Lectures 2 and 3:
The classic: John Nash, ``Non-cooperative Games'', Annals of Mathematics, 1951. (Only read pages 286--288.)
Supplementary (not required) textbook reading for Lectures 2 and 3:
[Shoham&Leyton-Brown, Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) book, 2009, Chapter 3]
(This book is available digitally from the Edinburgh University Library.)
Light supplementary reading (not required):
Chapter 15: "Application to Biology: Evolutionarily Stable Strategies" (only pages 93--99) in the book : Philip D. Straffin, "Game Theory and Strategy", AMS, 1993. (This book is available digitally from the University of Edinburgh Library.)
Lecture 4 - 22 January 2026
Slides: 2-Player Zero-Sum Games and the Minimax Theorem
Supplementary reading (not required):
T.E.S. Raghavan, "Zero-Sum Two-Person Games", Chapter 20 (only read pages 736--739) in
Handbook of Game Theory, Volume 2, Edited by R. J. Aumann and S. Hart, Elsevier, 1994.
(This handbook is available digitally from the University of Edinburgh Library.)
Lecture 5 - 26 January 2026
Slides: Introduction to Linear Programming
Reading for the next several lectures, either:
V. Chvatal, Linear Programming, Freeman & Co., 1983.
(Chapters 1-5 only; an electronic copy of these is available to AGTA students via the AGTA LEARN page under "Additional Course Materials")
Or, alternatively, another excellent textbook on linear programming is:
J. Matousek and B. Gaertner, Understanding and Using Linear Programming, Springer, 2006.
(This book is available digitally from the University Library.)
Lecture 6 - 29 January (& 2 February) 2026
Slides: The Simplex Algorithm
Reading: continue with Chvatal, or with Matousek&Gaertner.
Lecture 7 - 2 February (& 5 February) 2026
Slides: LP Duality
Reading: continue with Chvatal, or with Matousek&Gaertner.
Lecture 8 - 5 February (& 9 February) 2026
Slides: Computing solutions for general finite strategic games, Part 1: Dominance and Iterated Strategy Elimination
Supplementary reference:
Pages 235--245 of: A. Mas-Colell, M. D. Whinston, and J. Green, Microeconomic Theory, OUP, 1995.
(Also, e.g., [Maschler,Solan-Zamir, GT book, section 4.5] or [Shoham/Leyton-Brown MAS book, sections 3.4.3 & 3.4.4].)
Lecture 9 - 9 February & 12 February 2026
Slides: Computing solutions for general finite strategic games, Part 2: Nash Equilibria
Supplementary references (all of these are available digitally from the University of Edinburgh Library):
R. D. McKelvey and A. McLennan. "Computation of equilibria in Finite Games", Chapter 2, in Handbook of Computational Economics, volume 1, 1996.
B. von Stengel. "Computing equilibria for two-person games", Chapter 45, in Handbook of Game Theory, volume 3, 2002.
[Shoham & Leyton-Brown MAS book, Chapter 4: "Computing solution concepts for normal-form games".]
Lecture 10 - 23 February 2026
Slides: Games in Extensive Form
Supplementary reference reading:
Sergiu Hart, "Games in Extensive and Strategic Form", Chapter 2 of Handbook
of Game Theory, volume 1, Elsevier, 1992. (Available digitally from the University library.)
[Maschler, Solan, & Zamir Game Theory book, Chapters 3 and 6.]
[Shoham & Leyton-Brown MAS book, Chapter 5: "Games with sequential actions"].
Lecture 11 - 26 February 2026
Slides: Games of Perfect Information, and Games on Graphs
Supplemental reference reading (not required):
Jan Mycielski, "Games with Perfect Information", Chapter 3 of Handbook
of Game Theory, volume 1, Elsevier, 1992. (Available digitally from the University library.)
E. Grädel, W. Thomas, and T. Wilke (editors), Automata, Logics, and Infinite Games, Springer, 2002. (Available digitally from the University Library.)
N. Fijalkow (editor), Games on Graphs: from Logic and Automata to Algorithms (forthcoming book), Cambridge University Press, 2026. Current draft available here.