What is the math behind this?
fragment from book Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions
For example, assume an immediate proposal is a sure thing but belated proposals are rejected half the time. Then the math says you should keep looking noncommittally until you’ve seen 61% of the possibilities, and then only leap if someone in the remaining 39% of the pool proves to be the best-yet. If you’re still single after considering all the possibilities — as Kepler was — then go back to the best one that got away. The symmetry between strategy and outcome holds in this case once again, with your chances of ending up with the best person under this second-chances-allowed scenario also being 61%.
