Past exam of the MSc in advanced computer science course of the University of Oxford / 2021 / Computational game theory / 2 / b / Solution

The bold black curve is the pointwise minimum of the two opposing-column expected payoff functions. It is the row player's security level payoff at the specified mixed strategy:The lines meet where $3p-1=1-4p$, hence at $p=2/7$. The first branch increases with slope $3$ and the second decreases with slope $-4$, so their intersection is the unique global maximum of the lower envelope:The endpoint values are $g(0)=-1$ and $g(1)=-3$, both smaller. Since an opposing mixed strategy forms a convex combination of the two pure-column expected payoffs, it cannot make the row player's expected payoff lower than this envelope.