Show HN: Learn When to Quit

The distribution of numbers is not uniform across the 0..googol here. The implementation first chooses the length of the number, then fills in the digits. This makes it biased towards smaller numbers.

Does it still have the same optimal strategy as for uniform generation?

Re: Show HN: Learn When to Quit

#7

Post by curo » Sat, Dec 07, 2019, 8:42 PM UTC

How does this change when you're heavily punished for ending up with a much lower number (e.g., in finding a partner, biz deal, etc)?

Among a set of losing plays, I presume it's 50/50 on whether you turn over every card (and end up with the last one). So a third of the time you end up in the optimal case, another third you end up doing pretty well, and another third you're subject to absolutely random chance. Guess this is an argument for satisficing vs optimizing in most real world applications.

Re: Show HN: Learn When to Quit

#8

Post by iakh » Sat, Dec 07, 2019, 8:50 PM UTC

Consider using a monospace font. It is difficult to tell how large one number is relative to another when each digit has a different width

Re: Show HN: Learn When to Quit

#9

Post by anonymousiam » Sat, Dec 07, 2019, 9:03 PM UTC

curo wrote: post #7

How does this change when you're heavily punished for ending up with a much lower number (e.g., in finding a partner, biz deal, etc)? Among a set of losing plays, I presume it's 50/50 on whether you turn over every card (and end up with the last one). So a third of the time you end up in the optimal case, another third you end up doing pretty well, and another third you're subject to absolutely random chance. Guess t…

The conditions of this "game" are that you must decide then and there which option to choose. In the game, you do not have the luxury of viewing all of the data before you make your choice. Real life can be different (as was mentioned in the video re: Kepler's wife).

Re: Show HN: Learn When to Quit

#10

Post by atum47 » Sat, Dec 07, 2019, 9:16 PM UTC

trisiak wrote: post #6

The distribution of numbers is not uniform across the 0..googol here. The implementation first chooses the length of the number, then fills in the digits. This makes it biased towards smaller numbers. Does it still have the same optimal strategy as for uniform generation?

>"The implementation first chooses the length of the number, then fills in the digits. This makes it biased towards smaller numbers."

Why?