James W. Boudreau, Jeremy Kettering, Shane D. Sanders
{"title":"Spelling Bees","authors":"James W. Boudreau, Jeremy Kettering, Shane D. Sanders","doi":"10.1177/00027642241237929","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In this note, we consider a form of competition in which two contestants face separate sequences of independent trials. The contestant with the longer sequence of successful trials wins. However, since the trials are independent, there may be a form of paradox whereby the loser is able to pass all of the trials in the winner’s sequence, whereas the winner could not have overcome two or more trials in the loser’s sequence. We refer to this as the spelling bee paradox and explore its likelihood in simple settings. JEL Classification Codes: C46, D74, Z29.","PeriodicalId":48360,"journal":{"name":"American Behavioral Scientist","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Behavioral Scientist","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642241237929","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In this note, we consider a form of competition in which two contestants face separate sequences of independent trials. The contestant with the longer sequence of successful trials wins. However, since the trials are independent, there may be a form of paradox whereby the loser is able to pass all of the trials in the winner’s sequence, whereas the winner could not have overcome two or more trials in the loser’s sequence. We refer to this as the spelling bee paradox and explore its likelihood in simple settings. JEL Classification Codes: C46, D74, Z29.
期刊介绍:
American Behavioral Scientist has been a valuable source of information for scholars, researchers, professionals, and students, providing in-depth perspectives on intriguing contemporary topics throughout the social and behavioral sciences. Each issue offers comprehensive analysis of a single topic, examining such important and diverse arenas as sociology, international and U.S. politics, behavioral sciences, communication and media, economics, education, ethnic and racial studies, terrorism, and public service. The journal"s interdisciplinary approach stimulates creativity and occasionally, controversy within the emerging frontiers of the social sciences, exploring the critical issues that affect our world and challenge our thinking.