2 ms·

I don't see how Ballmer randomly guessing a number and candidate doing binary search would NOT be Nash Equilibrium. For anything else, the candidate has a str

by gowld 2y ago

I don't see how Ballmer randomly guessing a number and candidate doing binary search would NOT be Nash Equilibrium. For anything else, the candidate has a strategy of "guessing a trick number", and Ballmer has a strategy of "not choosing a trick number". The candidate can't force Ballmer to try to be tricky.

quuxplusone 2y ago
"Candidate always starts by guessing 50" can't possibly be part of a Nash equilibrium, since then Ballmer would never ever choose 50 as his secret number. (And indeed, he says as much in the linked video.) And if he'll never choose 50, then it's obviously silly for the candidate to waste a guess on it... and so on. Nash equilibria are usually (always?) located at mixed strategies.