Editing Rational choice model (section)

==Utility maximization==
Often preferences are described by their [[utility]] function or ''payoff function''. This is an [[ordinal utility|ordinal number]] that an individual assigns over the available actions, such as:
:<math>u\left(a_i\right) > u\left(a_j\right).</math>
The individual's preferences are then expressed as the relation between these ordinal assignments. For example, if an individual prefers the candidate Sara over Roger over abstaining, their preferences would have the relation:
:<math>u\left(\text{Sara}\right) > u\left(\text{Roger}\right) > u\left(\text{abstain}\right).</math>
A preference relation that as above satisfies completeness, transitivity, and, in addition, [[Continuous function (set theory)|continuity]], can be equivalently represented by a utility function.