Can game theory be applied in mahjong? That was one of the more practical questions about the arcane mathematical theory that came from a jam-packed audience of 1,000 people who queued to hear a lecture by the Nobel-winning mathematician John Nash yesterday.
Nash's life as professor and mental patient was portrayed by actor Russell Crowe in the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind.
The audience member who wanted to know if game theory could give him an edge in the ancient Chinese game of mahjong asked after the lecture: 'Can you extend your three-player game [in the theory] to a four-player one? Because games like mahjong have four players.'
Nash - who pioneered the theory for which he won a Nobel prize in economics - was not dismissive of the idea. 'In theory, it should be similar,' he said. 'We can have as many as 10 players in a game.
'But problems may appear.'
Game theory analyses the processes of decisionmaking among competitors who have limited or incomplete information about each other. The theory can also look at co-operative strategies.
The presentation by Nash, 82, at Shue Yan University's Lady Lily Shaw Hall yesterday was on 'co-operative optimisation', which seeks to work out strategies that may not be clear to people working together.