Mark, that's also known as Sultan's Dowry Problem. You want to solve for the
smallest x such that
H(x) = H(n) - 1
where n is the number of turns, and H(n) is harmonic number.
Check out : http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SultansDowryProblem.html
Cheers.
Horace Tso
>>> "Leeds, Mark" <mleeds@mlp.com> 07/21/03 03:46PM >>>
i've seen the following question before but
i don't remember how to do it so
i was wondering if anyone knows
where i can find the answer. i'm
not asking anyone to do it because
i know it's published somewhere.
you have a game : each turn,
a random number is chosen
between 1 and 100 ( assume uniform distribution )
and given to you. you can either
A) accept the number and stop the game
and decide that the number you received is
your number.
B) throw out that number ( but you
can't claim it later ) and try for another number
you get say, 20 turns ( numbers
are chosen with replacement ) and you
want to maximize your value where
your value is the number you receive when
you choose to stop.
what is the algorithm for deciding when to stop ?
sorry to bother everyone.
mark
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