At 6:19 PM 7/27/96, David Sternlight wrote:
Here's another:
Twenty beautiful women are to pass before you, one by one (or 20 handsome men). You see only one at a time. You cannot speak to them. After seeing any one, you must pick her or reject her. If you reject her, you cannot change your mind. If you pick her the exercise terminates.
What is the optimal strategy for insuring you get the most beautiful woman possible under the circumstances?
Look at the first 1/e of them, or about the first 36.8% of them. In this case, the first 7 of them. Then pick the first one after this group which is better than any of the first group. While there is some chance that one will get to #20 and find that none of #8-20 were better than #1-7, this strategy is the best compromise between "committing too early" and "waiting too long." --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."