Applied Differential Games

This book grew out of a set of lecture notes for a one­ semester course on dynamic game theory held at the University of Technology, Vienna. I hope that I have been able to give the reader an accessible introduction to the subject of nonzero-sum dif­ ferential games with particular emphasis on applications.

This book grew out of a set of lecture notes for a one­ semester course on dynamic game theory held at the University of Technology, Vienna. It is intended primarily at the graduate level for students in operations research, management science, applied mathematics, and eco­ nomics. I hope that I have been able to give the reader an accessible introduction to the subject of nonzero-sum dif­ ferential games with particular emphasis on applications. It would be irrational to try to re ach total com­ prehensiveness in a single volume. Therefore, I have resisted the temptation to "over-cannibalize" previous textbooks and monographs on the subject. It has rather been my desire to cover material that (I think) is impor­ tant and interesting, but gets left out of these publications. Writing a book is quite a game. In the beginning -before c10sing the binding agreement* with Plenum-I believed this to be a fi·nite horizon game. Time, however, * Key words will be explained in the text. 7 PREFACE 8 was a merciless arbiter. I am grateful to the Senior Editor, Dr. Ken Derharn, for allowing manuscript delivery to become a (restricted) free terminal time problem. Most of all, I thank my wife Grace for offering me the needed spiritual support, and my two-year-old daughter Sabrina for ignoring the paradoxical situation that there are games which prevent Dad from playing with her.