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What is Utility Function

Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations
In economics, “utility” is a measure of the happiness or satisfaction an economy gives to its participants. A “utility function” is used in studies and computer models to assign values to the utility of each individual.
Published in Chapter:
Collective Intelligence
Paulo Garrido (University of Minho, Portugal) and Wilfried Lemahieu (F.E.T.E.W., Belgium)
Copyright: © 2008 |Pages: 8
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-885-7.ch037
Abstract
Intelligence is taken here as the ability for attaining goals or for solving problems that put at work responsiveness of the solver to the situation where the goal or problem arises and use of its previous knowledge and experience. Let one notice that this definition means that intelligence or intelligent behavior is not an absolute concept in at least three ways: • Intelligence is relative to the goal or problem being solved. • Intelligence is relative to the situation where the goal arises. • Intelligence is relative to the knowledge and experience of the solver. Usually, intelligence is conceived as a property of individuals. In recent years, the recognizance has grown that this conception is too narrow. It makes sense and it is most useful to consider the intelligence of groups of individuals, whether small or very large. Such intelligence is still the intelligence of one entity— the group—but it is made of the ways individual intelligences are orchestrated or coordinate themselves. This being given, collective intelligence (CI) is defined here simply as the intelligence of entities constituted by several or many individuals. As taken, CI is about the intelligent behavior of entities which are conceived from the beginning as not being atomic.
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More Results
Optimizing Paths with Random Parameter Distributions
A function that measures the utility of each problem solution (or parts of it).
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Utility Function
A function associating a real number to every item of consumption goods or items in such a way to mirror the desirability values that an individual attaches to them.
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Chaos in Economics
u ( x ) of an individual assigns a numerical value to each element in the set X of possible alternatives, ranking the elements of X in accordance with the individual’s preferences.
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A Review of Standard Spectral Risk Measures
A mapping that evaluates the satisfaction brought by a specific realization for a given investor.
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Optimal Collaborative Design in Supply Chains
Numerical function defined over a set of variables, e.g., product performance measures, that specifies a stake-holder’s subjective measure of desirability for each assignment of the variables.
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Competition, Regulation and Broadband Diffusion in New Zealand
A numerical representation of an individual’s preferences over different possible choices or situations.
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Model for Sustainability in Healthcare Organizations
Is a function which allows a number, an index of the preferences of the decision maker, to be associated with the different possible results of the decision alternatives. The higher the number, the higher the preference of the associated consequence. A utility function can be represented in three forms depending on the attitude of the decision maker to risk; a concave function in the case of risk-averse decision makers; a linear function with risk-indifferent decision makers, who behave according to the expected value; a convex function with risk-attracted decision makers.
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Game Theory for PHY Layer and MAC Sublayer in Wireless Telecommunications
Function associated to each player of a game which maps the resource consumption into a number so as to represent player’s preference.
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Distributional Uncertainty for Spectral Risk Measures
A mapping that evaluates the satisfaction brought by a specific realization for a given investor.
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