Secretary Problem
The secretary problem asks how to pick the best candidate from a sequence you interview one at a time, deciding on the spot with no going back. The optimal strategy rejects the first fraction r of candidates, then hires the next one better than everyone seen so far. This simulator runs thousands of trials at each cutoff and plots the success rate, which peaks when you skip about 37% (1/e) of the candidates — also winning about 37% of the time.
Runs 100% in your browser — simulations are computed locally on your device.
Read the full guide to this tool
Notes
- The optimal cutoff is a fraction 1/e ≈ 0.368 of the candidates, after which you take the next record-breaker.
- At that cutoff the chance of landing the single best candidate is also about 1/e ≈ 37%.
- The rule maximises the odds of the very best pick; it does not maximise the average rank, which needs a different strategy.
- Runs 100% in your browser — simulations are computed locally on your device.
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