Based off of the hit television show NUMB3RS, this lesson introduces students to the Iterated Prisoner Dilemma, an interesting problem in the realm of Game Theory. Two prisoners are separated and given the opportunity to either "rat out" the other, or to cooperate with the other. Depending on what the other prisoner does, jail terms may be increased or reduced. While the problem may sound confusing, this lesson does a good job of simulating the dilemma in such a way that students will not only understand, but begin to develop strategies to minimize their own prison sentence.

Concepts

game theory

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Additional Tags

iterated dilemma, prisoner dilemma, numb3rs, numb3rs: to c or not to c, ti, texas instruments, simulation

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Classroom Considerations

• Knovation Readability Score: 3 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)