What do game theory, ICBMs and the next L.A. Mayoral election have to do with one another? Man, you sure ask some screwy questions. But I can answer that one, albeit in an uncharacteristically long-winded way:
As you know, I always try to work into every conversation the fact that I did indeed graduate from Princeton. "What time is it?" "It's the same time that my Econ 101 class started back when I was at Princeton -- 10:00 a.m." If I did not belabor the fact that I went Princeton, people would have absolutely no way of knowing I used to be smart.
Back at Princeton, I took this upper-level math class called "Mathematical Programming," in which we studied, among other things, game theory and optimization. (Yeah, just like that "Beautiful Mind" movie, but without the schizophrenia.) The idea -- to the extent I had any inkling what the professor was talking about -- was to use math to figure out the optimal course of action given a particular set of constraints, whether you were running a factory, searching for enemy submarines, or doing all that electrical engineering stuff that went right over my head. (I was the only student in the class not majoring in engineering, which, in retrospect, should have told me I was in over my head.)
Back at Princeton, I took this upper-level math class called "Mathematical Programming," in which we studied, among other things, game theory and optimization. (Yeah, just like that "Beautiful Mind" movie, but without the schizophrenia.) The idea -- to the extent I had any inkling what the professor was talking about -- was to use math to figure out the optimal course of action given a particular set of constraints, whether you were running a factory, searching for enemy submarines, or doing all that electrical engineering stuff that went right over my head. (I was the only student in the class not majoring in engineering, which, in retrospect, should have told me I was in over my head.)
