System and method for evaluating decision opportunities

A decision-making system, comprising:

• (a) a user input interface;
• (b) a user output device;
• and
• (c) a processor (A) facilitating input of information from a user via the user input interface, including facilitating user selection of (i) a type of decision to be made, (ii) at least one state available to a subject, (iii) at least one action available to the subject, (iv) a reward associated with an outcome, (v) a discount rate and a growth rate available to the subject, and (vi) a time index expressed in periods available to the subject, (B) validating and checking user provided inputs by determining whether at least one user provided input has a value within a predetermined limit, and performing a convergence check to determine whether the problem is solvable, wherein the convergence check (a) evaluates whether the reward function produces, for all combinations of state and actions, a reward that is less than an upper bound, which upper bound is a real number less than infinity;
• and (b) evaluates whether the discount factor is a real number strictly less than one, (C) generating the following elements from the information:
• (i) a set of states that describe possible outcomes, (ii) a set of possible actions by a decision maker, (iii) a transition probability function representative of the likelihood of a particular state occurring at a future time based on the current state and a particular action taken by the user, (iv) a reward function representative of the benefits and costs associated with each possible combination of state and action, (v) a discount factor determined from the growth rate and the discount rate and (vi) a time index that establishes a sequential ordering of events, (D) formulating the elements into a functional equation, (E) solving the functional equation, and (F) presenting the user with decision-making advice via the user output device, wherein the advice includes (a) a representation of a value function consisting of a mapping from each state to a value, and (b) the representation of a companion policy function consisting of a mapping of each state to a value-maximizing action;
• wherein steps (C), (D), (E) and (F) are completed only if the convergence check indicates that the input information can be formulated into a solvable functional equation, and the user is otherwise requested to provide additional input.