Decision and Control with Uncertainty: What Problems Should We Aim to Solve?

There are four basic types of activity involving combinations of uncertainty and optimisation:

These problems are closely related to one another. However, the subject of decision theory is perhaps the most fundamental and well developed theory as it has a firm axiomatic basis and an extensive literature. In this talk we will examine the formulation of the problems and then discuss the matter of how close we are to solving any of these problems in a satisfactory way. The main points that will be defended are (i) we should always optimise our expected utility and (ii) sequential formulations are the most fruitful for practical progress.

Chris Farmer, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

 


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