The Games People Play – with Dr S Brzezicki
Event Location:
Skempton Building South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BX
public in-person lecture
The mathematics of game theory and its applications.
Dr Samuel Brzezicki - Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Mathematics, Imperial
What can simple games reveal about strategy, deception, and decision-making? In this accessible introduction to mathematical game theory, we will explore how mathematicians model games, competition, and strategic behaviour. Starting with interactive examples that everyone can join in with, the talk will build up some of the key ideas of game theory in a hands-on and intuitive way.
From there, we will look at how these ideas extend to more complex games involving bluffing, hidden information, and uncertain choices, including simplified versions of games such as poker and The Traitors. Along the way, we will see how mathematics helps us analyse situations in which success depends not just on the rules of the game, but on predicting what other people might do.
No specialist background is required — just curiosity, and a willingness to play along!
Dr Sam Brzezicki is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London and an applied mathematician. His work spans undergraduate mathematics teaching, curriculum development, and public engagement, with outreach forming an important part of his role. He is particularly interested in communicating rich mathematical ideas to a wide range of audiences, and in finding creative ways to make advanced mathematics accessible, engaging, and enjoyable. He likes playing games, coffee, croissants, football, and cats.
Event image = Roland Pippes https://pixabay.com/users/piro4d-2707530/
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