Game theory is a widely-used approach to studying the behavior of rational actors in situations where the outcome of their decisions depends on the decisions of other actors. It relies on a mathematical analysis of strategic interactions and equilibria. It is commonly used to study interactions in economics, political science, sociology, industrial organization and other areas of applied mathematics. It is also an important part of computer science, incorporating ideas from evolutionary algorithms, social networks, artificial intelligence, multi-agent systems and distributed computing. In its most basic form, game theory is about understanding the structure and payoffs of various kinds of games.

See also: agent-based modeling, emergence, evolutionary computing, evolution