.. _gambit-ipa:

:program:`gambit-ipa`
=====================

Compute Nash equilibria in a strategic game using iterated polymatrix approximation.
See the :ref:`algorithm description <ipa>` for full details.

The algorithm finds at most one equilibrium starting from any given profile.
Multiple starting profiles may be generated via the `-n` option or specified
via the `-s` option; different starting profiles may result in different
equilibria being found.


.. program:: gambit-ipa

.. cmdoption:: -d

   Express all output using decimal representations
   with the specified number of digits.

.. cmdoption:: -h

   Prints a help message listing the available options.

.. cmdoption:: -n

   Randomly generate the specified number of perturbation vectors.
   Mutually exclusive with :option:`-s`.

.. cmdoption:: -R

   Seeds the random number generator used to generate perturbation
   vectors with the specified value, so that the sequence of vectors
   generated by :option:`-n` can be reproduced across runs.  If not
   specified, the generator is seeded from system entropy.  Requires
   :option:`-n`.

.. cmdoption:: -q

   Suppresses printing of the banner at program launch.

.. cmdoption:: -s

   Specifies a file containing a list of starting points
   for the algorithm. The format of the file is comma-separated values,
   one mixed strategy profile per line, in the same format used for
   output of equilibria (excluding the initial NE tag).
   Mutually exclusive with :option:`-n`.

.. cmdoption:: -V, --verbose

   Show intermediate output of the algorithm.  If this option is
   not specified, only the equilibria found are reported.

.. cmdoption:: -v, --version

   Prints version information and exits.


Computing an equilibrium of
the reduced strategic form of the example in Figure 2 of :cite:p:`Sel75`::

   $ gambit-ipa catalog/games/journals/ijgt/selten1975/fig2.efg
   Compute Nash equilibria using iterated polymatrix approximation
   Gametracer version 0.2, Copyright (C) 2002, Ben Blum and Christian Shelton
   Gambit version |release|, Copyright (C) 1994-2026, The Gambit Project
   This is free software, distributed under the GNU GPL

   NE,1.000000,0.000000,0.000000,1.000000,0.000000



.. seealso::

   :ref:`gambit-gnm`.