vix.ing · top · new · best · stats · spec

A Double Secretary Problem

2025/11/10 by Hsiau, Shoou-Ren, Lin, Yi-Shen
Computer Science · #Optimization and Search Problems #Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems #Distributed systems and fault tolerance

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.07201

Abstract

We consider a double secretary problem which contains 2n applicants of n different qualities, two of each quality. As in the classical secretary problem (CSP), the applicants are interviewed sequentially in a random order by a manager and the manager wants to find an optimal stopping rule that maximizes the probability of selecting one of the two best applicants. We prove that the problem leads to a monotone structure and so the corresponding one-stage look-ahead rule (which is of threshold type) is optimal. The limiting behavior of the rule and of the maximum probability are studied and compared with that of the CSP.

Citations

Related