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We show that the problem of finding an {\epsilon}-approximate Nash equilibrium in an anonymous game with seven pure strategies is complete in PPAD, when the approximation parameter {\epsilon} is exponentially small in the number of players.

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2014-12-19 Xi Chen , David Durfee , Anthi Orfanou

In this thesis, we settle the computational complexity of some fundamental questions in polynomial optimization. These include the questions of (i) finding a local minimum, (ii) testing local minimality of a point, and (iii) deciding…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-08-28 Jeffrey Zhang

We know that the Nash equilibria of a game cannot be computed efficiently unless $P = PPAD$. But can they be learned? Are there dynamics that (1) can be computed efficiently by the players at each strategy profile and (2) are guaranteed to…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-04-17 Oliver Biggar , Christos Papadimitriou , Georgios Piliouras

Two issues of algorithmic collusion are addressed in this paper. First, we show that in a general class of symmetric games, including Prisoner's Dilemma, Bertrand competition, and any (nonlinear) mixture of first and second price auction,…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2024-09-05 Zhang Xu , Wei Zhao

The rank of a bimatrix game (A,B) is defined as rank(A+B). Computing a Nash equilibrium (NE) of a rank-$0$, i.e., zero-sum game is equivalent to linear programming (von Neumann'28, Dantzig'51). In 2005, Kannan and Theobald gave an FPTAS for…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2014-03-25 Ruta Mehta

Since the seminal PPAD-completeness result for computing a Nash equilibrium even in two-player games, an important line of research has focused on relaxations achievable in polynomial time. In this paper, we consider the notion of…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2022-07-15 Argyrios Deligkas , Michail Fasoulakis , Evangelos Markakis

We study robust Markov games (RMG) with $s$-rectangular uncertainty. We show a general equivalence between computing a robust Nash equilibrium (RNE) of a $s$-rectangular RMG and computing a Nash equilibrium (NE) of an appropriately…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-06-14 Jeremy McMahan , Giovanni Artiglio , Qiaomin Xie

We prove that computing a Nash equilibrium of a two-player ($n \times n$) game with payoffs in $[-1,1]$ is PPAD-hard (under randomized reductions) even in the smoothed analysis setting, smoothing with noise of constant magnitude. This gives…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2020-07-22 Shant Boodaghians , Joshua Brakensiek , Samuel B. Hopkins , Aviad Rubinstein

A Nash Equilibrium (NE) is a strategy profile resilient to unilateral deviations, and is predominantly used in the analysis of multiagent systems. A downside of NE is that it is not necessarily stable against deviations by coalitions. Yet,…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2014-01-16 Michal Feldman , Tami Tamir

The computational characterization of game-theoretic solution concepts is a central topic in artificial intelligence, with the aim of developing computationally efficient tools for finding optimal ways to behave in strategic interactions.…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2013-04-05 Nicola Gatti , Marco Rocco , Tuomas Sandholm

PPAD refers to a class of computational problems for which solutions are guaranteed to exist due to a specific combinatorial principle. The most well-known such problem is that of computing a Nash equilibrium of a game. Other examples…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2015-03-19 Paul W. Goldberg

In recent years, with the advancement of frontier AI, we have observed certain dynamics in open-sourcing and closed-sourcing decisions. We propose a game-theoretic model to analyze these dynamics in the current landscape of the AI race. Our…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-04-20 Andjela Mladenovic , Aaron Courville , Gauthier Gidel

The assumption that voters' preferences share some common structure is a standard way to circumvent NP-hardness results in social choice problems. While the Kemeny ranking problem is NP-hard in the general case, it is known to become easy…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2022-06-13 Bruno Escoffier , Olivier Spanjaard , Magdaléna Tydrichová

We prove that in a normal form n-player game with m actions for each player, there exists an approximate Nash equilibrium where each player randomizes uniformly among a set of O(log(m) + log(n)) pure strategies. This result induces an…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2013-07-19 Yakov Babichenko , Ron Peretz

The Nash Equilibrium (NE), one of the elegant and fundamental concepts in game theory, plays a crucial part within various fields, including engineering and computer science. However, efficiently computing an NE in normal-form games remains…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-04-01 Jianing Chen

We study $n$-dimensional contests between two players with heterogeneous effort costs, where each dimension (battle) is modeled as a Tullock contest. Prize-allocation rules are identity-independent, budget-balanced, and weakly increasing in…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-03-31 Siyuan Fan , Zhonghong Kuang , Jingfeng Lu

This paper investigates a two-stage game-theoretical model with multiple parallel rank-order contests. In this model, each contest designer sets up a contest and determines the prize structure within a fixed budget in the first stage.…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-05-14 Xiaotie Deng , Ningyuan Li , Weian Li , Qi Qi

Computing Nash equilibria of zero-sum games in classical and quantum settings is extensively studied. For general-sum games, computing Nash equilibria is PPAD-hard and the computing of a more general concept called correlated equilibria has…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-10-21 Tongyang Li , Xinzhao Wang , Yexin Zhang

Typical voting rules do not work well in settings with many candidates. If there are just several hundred candidates, then even a simple task such as choosing a top candidate becomes impractical. Motivated by the hope of developing group…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2012-10-03 Ashish Goel , David Lee

Computational aspects of solution notions such as Nash equilibrium have been extensively studied, including settings where the ultimate goal is to find an equilibrium that possesses some additional properties. Furthermore, in order to…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2023-05-09 Bruce M. Kapron , Koosha Samieefar