English

Polynomial algorithms computing two lexicographically safe Nash equilibria in finite two-person games with tight game forms given by oracles

Computer Science and Game Theory 2023-06-21 v3 Combinatorics

Abstract

In 1975 the first author proved that every finite tight two-person game form gg is Nash-solvable, that is, for every payoffs uu and ww of two players the obtained game (g;u,w)(g;u,w), in normal form, has a Nash equilibrium (NE) in pure strategies. This result was extended in several directions; here we strengthen it further. We construct two special NE realized by a lexicographically safe (lexsafe) strategy of one player and a best response of the other. We obtain a polynomial algorithm computing these lexsafe NE. This is trivial when game form gg is given explicitly. Yet, in applications gg is frequently realized by an oracle \cO\cO such that size of gg is exponential in size \cO|\cO| of \cO\cO. We assume that game form g=g(\cO)g = g(\cO) generated by \cO\cO is tight and that an arbitrary {\em win-lose game} (g;u,w)(g;u,w) (in which payoffs uu and ww are zero-sum and take only values ±1\pm 1) can be solved, in time polynomial in \cO|\cO|. These assumptions allow us to construct an algorithm computing two (one for each player) lexsafe NE in time polynomial in \cO|\cO|. We consider four types of oracles known in the literature and show that all four satisfy the above assumptions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2108.05469,
  title  = {Polynomial algorithms computing two lexicographically safe Nash equilibria in finite two-person games with tight game forms given by oracles},
  author = {Vladimir Gurvich and Mariya Naumova},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.05469},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-24T05:02:52.352Z