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On the best-choice problem when the number of observations is random

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

Joseph D. Petruccelli*
Affiliation:
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
*
Postal address: Department of Mathematical Sciences, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, U.S.A.

Abstract

We consider the problem of maximizing the probability of choosing the largest from a sequence of N observations when N is a bounded random variable. The present paper gives a necessary and sufficient condition, based on the distribution of N, for the optimal stopping rule to have a particularly simple form: what Rasmussen and Robbins (1975) call an s(r) rule. A second result indicates that optimal stopping rules for this problem can, with one restriction, take virtually any form.

Type
Short Communications
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1983 

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References

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