Teaser Tuesday! April 22, 2014
Hope you find this one challenging!
Note: If you could all please input your answers using the previously noted html code it will allow others to answer without having a spoiler. Also, in your answer, do not include any ' or " or it will not work properly.
Question
Willy is lonely and needs a wife. So, he flips through a phone book and plans to date exactly N women at random, none of whom he knows anything about beforehand. To expedite the process, after going on just one date with a woman, he must immediately decide whether or not she is "the one"; this decision is irreversible. Devise the algorithm Willy should use to maximize his chances of choosing the best woman in the set then convince Willy that your algorithm is optimal.
Good Luck!
Loop If N>-1 do not marry End loop Buy dog
I don't think this needs convincing.
As for convincing, let's default to Pascal's Wager. Assuming the guys who thought this up were smarter than him, odds are he needs to do some serious work to hit the N number in the answer. If they aren't, N could be significantly lower. But he risks eternal damnation with some woman he hates as opposed to just hitting N and being sure, so he should just date N women and be sure.
Good thing Willy is such a logical guy. I know this can't fail. Also, the guy above me has a stellar answer that I'm sure we all live by.
Willy doesn't need to create an algorithm. He should simply use the term algorithm multiple times during the date and determine "if she's the one" based on her responses to the conversation. If she understands what an algorithm is, and at a bare minimum, can spell algorithm, he should stop looking there. Otherwise, they will have nothing to talk about and she will only in it for his algorithmic skills that will certainly earn him a fortune at a quant fund in the future.
Ask her if she requires a diamond ring upon engagement
And to convince, I really like @"Kassad"'s comment above. Had to go look up Pascal's wager (I originally was thinking of triangles lol).
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