Notes Toward a Simplified Pedagogy of Oligopoly Theory

The standard exposition of duopoly in most intermediate microeconomics texts relies heavily on simplifying assumptions of linearity, yet it remains algebraically somewhat dense. In this note, I outline an alternative graphical approach that makes use of the same assumptions, but which may be more transparent to students with limited mathematical backgrounds. I apply this approach to developing quantity best-response functions in the Cournot model, the effective demand function facing a Stackelberg leader, and the price best-response functions in the differentiated-products Bertrand model