. The mathematical theory of how it is rational to act when confronted with alternatives which have various utilities and various probabilities. Where one is playing against rational opponents, not against nature or ‘blind chance’ (e.g. in...

Probability and Chance The weather report says that the chance of a hurricane arriving later today is 90 percent. Forewarned is forearmed: Expecting a hurricane, before leaving home I pack my hurricane lantern. Probability enters into this scenario...

Decision Theory Decision theory provides a general, mathematically rigorous account of decision making under uncertainty. The subject includes rational choice theory, which seeks to formulate and justify the normative principles that govern optimal...

Decision theory is the science of rational choice in situations in which there is uncertainty about the outcome. Rational choice theory asserts that individuals whose behavior satisfies a few plausible conditions (such as transitivity, which means that...

Decision theory is an area of study of discrete mathematics that models human decision-making in science, engineering and indeed all human social activities. It is concerned with how real or ideal decision-makers make or should make decisions, and how...

This article provides an overview of the field of qualitative decision theory: its motivating tasks and issues, its antecedents, and its prospects. Qualitative decision theory studies qualitative approaches to problems of decision making and their sound and effective reconciliation and integration with quantitative approaches....

The traditional engineering design process ends too abruptly when economic or "nontechnical" factors must be considered. Leaving decisions about tradeoffs between cost and quality to marketing, accounting and management personnel has resulted in products that do not compete well in the international marketplace. Marketing...