Letter: Choice numbers
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: So, Peter Todd has told the British Psychological Society that the best strategy for finding a life partner is to examine a dozen, and then make a choice from those who come along later (report, 5 April).
Plus ca change! For 30 years, undergraduate students studying dynamic programming, a branch of operational research, have looked at this problem as a light-hearted example of an important mathematical approach to making one decision after another. In various guises it has appeared in many examination papers, along with the problem of choosing the best pub for lunch (try two or three depending on how far apart they are) and how to adopt a winning strategy at darts (which requires an honest assessment of how accurately you throw).
The same mathematics is in daily use for obtaining attractive layout of print in computerised typesetting around the world. This branch of mathematics does not tell us what to do if the potential life partner is adopting the same strategy and you are only number eight on his or her list. You will be rejected, automatically!
Dr DAVID K SMITH
University of Exeter
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments