Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/iii/paper-38/6/c/solution

Row operations multiply each original tableau equation by an invertible matrix. The slack variable block therefore records that matrix and allows the original payoff matrix to be recovered without guessing.
From the first tableau, let be the coefficient block of and that of . Since its original equations were , we have . Here
so
For the second tableau, writing its and blocks as , the original equations give . We obtain
Thus a representative pair of payoff matrices is
Both reconstructed right-hand sides are , as a check on the tableau normalization. Independent transformations , , with , preserve best responses and hence identify the same strategic solution up to positive affine payoff transformations.
Directly,
The supports of and lie entirely among their respective best-response coordinates, confirming the Nash equilibrium found above. Since this representative is a symmetric bimatrix game, swapping the players' strategies preserves the Nash equilibrium conditions. Explicitly, is maximized on the support of , and is maximized on the support of . Therefore

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