| Title: | The Joy of Lex |
| Notice: | A Notes File even your grammar could love |
| Moderator: | THEBAY::SYSTEM |
| Created: | Fri Feb 28 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Jun 02 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1192 |
| Total number of notes: | 42769 |
Well, I have searched through the directory of this conference and tried a directory of notes with the text 'zero' imbedded, but to no avail. Therefore, this question: What is meant by the phrase: "a zero sum game" Based the context of the places I have seen it used, I have a mental picture of what it means, but would like to know more about the source or derivation of the phrase. Speculation will be enjoyed, but information will be most appreciated. jlb
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1029.1 | From game theory | TLE::JBISHOP | Fri Mar 05 1993 13:53 | 10 | |
A game where the sum of winnings and losses is zero. Most
gambling is a zero-sum game.
"Game" is technical term for a set of transactions governed
by a set of rules, here.
Some games have negative sums (each transaction reduces the
total amount of "goodness"), some a positive sum.
-John Bishop
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| 1029.2 | RDVAX::KALIKOW | Unintelligiblets | Fri Mar 05 1993 14:47 | 14 | |
Hmmm. I have nothing to add to .1, but your .0, coupled with your
1024.9, lead me to believe that the truncation at column 80 of the text
of 1024.9 was not a lovely self-referential, intentional hack, but
rather, an unfortunate result of some subtler mismatch between the
editing and display environment you use for VAXnotes, and the terminal
interface I habitually use, both on my VAXstation and on my PC.
And it was a lovely illusion I hope not to give up, without giving you
one more chance to claim that your 1029.0, too, was also intentionally
given with this truncation for some other reason I am too dull to divine...?
:-)
Dan
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| 1029.3 | NOVA::FISHER | DEC Rdb/Dinosaur | Sat Mar 06 1993 05:14 | 6 | |
So a game in which some "authority" keeps a little bit of each
transaction would be "negative sum"? As in tax stamps for
real estate transfers, broker fees for stock transfers, or
house keeps x% of each pot in a poker game?
ed
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| 1029.4 | I don't know whether time-value is included in GT | TLE::JBISHOP | Mon Mar 08 1993 12:08 | 6 | |
re .3
Yes, but the larger game (which includes the "authority" as a
player) is zero-sum.
-John Bishop
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| 1029.5 | RAGMOP::T_PARMENTER | Human. All too human. | Tue Mar 09 1993 06:27 | 5 | |
In common parlance, in a zero-sum game my gain is your loss, that is,
there's no compound interest or free lunch, there's just what's on the
table.
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