Nash equilibrium

In game theory, the Nash equilibrium is a solution concept of a non-cooperative game involving two or more players in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only his or her own strategy. If each player has chosen a strategy and no player can benefit by changing strategies while the other players keep theirs unchanged, then the current set of strategy choices and the corresponding payoffs constitutes a Nash equilibrium. The Nash equilibrium is one of the foundational concepts in game theory.

Quotes

• Since the graph is closed and since the image of each point under the mapping is convex, we infer from Kakutani's theorem that the mapping has a fixed point (i.e., point contained in its image). Hence there is an equilibrium point.
  In the two-person zero-sum case the "main theorem" and the existence of an equilibrium point are equivalent. In this case any two equilibrium points lead to the same expectations for the players, but this need not occur in general.
  • John Forbes Nash, Jr., "Equilibrium Points in n-Person Games", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jan. 15, 1950)