how to find a spouse
... using discrete mathematics. (also works for hiring a secretary).
"Strategy for Finding a Spouse: Date k people without making a selection. Then, select the first person judged to be better than any of the first k."
"We find that we can be successful in selecting the best ... by letting approximately 37% of the [candidates] go by, then selecting the first choice better than any seen before". This strategy will be successful about 37% of the time, which is not very high but apparently the maximum that one can hope for.
I personally think that they neglected some important corrections and the answer should have been 42.
"Strategy for Finding a Spouse: Date k people without making a selection. Then, select the first person judged to be better than any of the first k."
"We find that we can be successful in selecting the best ... by letting approximately 37% of the [candidates] go by, then selecting the first choice better than any seen before". This strategy will be successful about 37% of the time, which is not very high but apparently the maximum that one can hope for.
I personally think that they neglected some important corrections and the answer should have been 42.