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When I read the naive comments that didn't consider the birthday problem properly I scoffed, but I actually think they may have accidentally had some insight th
by esrauch 15y ago
When I read the naive comments that didn't consider the birthday problem properly I scoffed, but I actually think they may have accidentally had some insight that the "correct" answers didn't.
The value with the highest expected value of man hours worked would be to hire 365 people, but that might not actually be the best strategy since the variance is going to be pretty high. It's possible that you would be better off with a lower expected value that is also more of a "sure thing" venture
- delinka 15y agoAnd not one of them considered salaries. For example, the answers that said 182 or 183 would get more work for their money hiring 182 employees. But that also assumes everyone makes the same salary. Differing salaries also complicate matters. Adding complexity is generally not the purview of the theoretical mathematician, e.g. "OK, imagine every horse is identical and spherical..."
- jules 15y agoThe story is made up to serve the mathematical problem, not the other way around.