Computational Decision Making

Catalog description

Although we make decisions every day, many people base their decisions on initial reactions or ""gut"" feelings. There are, however, powerful frameworks for making decisions more effectively based on computationally analyzing the choices available and their possible outcomes. In this course we give an introduction to some of these frameworks, including utility theory, decision analysis, and game theory. We also discuss why people sometimes make seemingly reasonable, yet irrational, decisions. We begin the class by presenting some of the basics of probability theory, which serves as the main mathematical foundation for the decision making frameworks we will subsequently present. Although we provide a mathematical/computational basis for the decision making frameworks we examine, we also seek to give intuitive (and sometimes counterintuitive) explanations for actual decision making behavior through in-class demonstrations. No prior experience with probability theory is needed (we'll cover what you need to know in class), but students should be comfortable with mathematical manipulation at the level of Math 20 or Math 41.