The secretary problem for a random walk

M. Hlynka and J. N. Sheahan

Stochastic Processes and their Applications, 1988, vol. 28, issue 2, 317-325

Abstract: The secretary problem for a random walk is described. A particle has equal probabilities of moving j steps up or j steps down. The optimal strategy of picking the maximum height in n steps without the opportunity of recall is found. The best strategy is shown to be exactly the same as the naive strategy of choosing the first element of the sequence. The theory is extended to symmetric continuous distributions.

Keywords: secretary; problem; random; walk; optimal; stopping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1988
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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