this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2025
375 points (97.7% liked)

Comic Strips

20781 readers
2265 users here now

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

The rules are simple:

Web of links

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 107 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

The 37% is a great reference for math nerds! It's β…Ÿπ‘’, the number of candidates one should sample before waiting for a better one to maximize the chances of picking the best one in a pick-or-pass scenario. See Secretary problem on Wikipedia

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 17 points 2 weeks ago

I completely missed that, nice catch πŸ˜„

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The Internet is so fucking weird sometimes. I had literally never heard of the 37% / Secretary Problem until this morning when someone else commented about it in a different thread. Then I immediately noticed it in this comic and saw your comment.

It's like when you never notice a car until you buy one and then see that same car everywhere.

[–] kopasz7@sh.itjust.works 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago

Dammit. Now I'm gonna be noticing shit about Frequency Illusion for the next few weeks.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Or maybe the person who mentioned the 37% / secretary problem on the other thread had recently read this post here which is what reminded them of it, so they mentioned it there, then you saw both!

[–] NerdyPopRocks@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I came here to say this as well! Ofc it’s severely undercounting when you consider the problem where the candidate must choose you back. So lucky him!

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't think the 1/e strategy changes just because candidates have a chance of rejecting you.

Exactly, it is just taken into account in their evaluation. A person respecting consent will just reevaluate that relationship opportunity as 0 and move on to the next candidate or stay alone.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I think it does. For it to work, you'd need to be trying to find the first candidate in the 63% who would choose you back who is better than the best candidate in the 37% who would choose you back. If you can't verify that last part then it won't work I think.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 3 points 2 weeks ago

Coincidentally, 37 is the funniest number.

uh, what does interviewing just south of 200 candidates suggest?

i am trying to hire a competent ceiling fan installatrix