Talk:Two envelopes problem

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This is the talk page for discussing editorial changes to the two envelopes problem article. Please place discussions concerning solutions to the two envelopes problem itself on the Arguments page. Questions or statements of this kind here will be moved to that page without notice.

Archives Archive 1

[edit] Merge with Necktie Paradox

I propose that Necktie Paradox is merged into this page, perhaps as a short paragraph or section of its own. It seems to fundamentally be the same problem. Thoughts? Andeggs 22:29, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

In a way that paradox is already mentioned here in the history section in the form of a wallet game. Maurice Kraitchik wrote about the necktie paradox already 1943, please see the text by Caspar Albers in the bibliography for a reference and citation. So I do agree we have a historical connection here, but I also think that the Necktie Paradox deserves an article of its own. Many of the ideas developed around the two envelopes problem isn't directly applicable to the Necktie Paradox. So historically it's the same problem, but now they are separate problems. However, this historical connection could be stressed more in both articles. iNic 00:28, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Do not merge. Although essentially the same problem, they are expressed very differently and have different existences in the literature etc. Cross-refer but keep separate. Snalwibma 14:01, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Do not merge. I agree with Snalwibma.--Pokipsy76 12:08, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Merge The "history section (Two-envelope paradox#History of the paradox seems to be exactly this problem. —ScouterSig 19:12, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Formatting of References

I suggest to convert the formatting of the references ("Published papers") to an automated style instead of manually numbering the references. E.g., if I wanted to add a paper of Schwitzgebel and Dever, I would format it as follows: <ref name="Schwitzgebel_and_Denver_02">Eric Schwitzgebel and Josh Dever. ''The Two Envelope Paradox and Using Variables Within the Expectation Formula.'' 2006-07-07. ([http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/SchwitzPapers/TwoEnvelope060707.pdf])</ref> at the position where it is cited and add a section with the following text

== References ==
<!-- ----------------------------------------------------------
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 discussion of different citation methods and how to generate 
 footnotes using the <ref>, </ref> and  <references /> tags.
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<references />

at the end of the article. --M.T. 22:49, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

I considered all different solutions for adding references available, with their pros and cons, when I finally settled for this one. The main advantages are that we can have the reference list in chronological order and don't have to have a reference to every single paper in the text. Your proposed system for references lacks these freedoms. iNic 05:57, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

The particular PDF you want to add is a more popular version of their original text already in the list. As such, I don't think it merits a new entry in the list, and it's in fact very easy to find via the extra link "A Simple Version of Our Explanation" already present (next to the link to their main paper from 2004). iNic 05:57, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

I would say that the paper that I suggested to add is very different from the one already listed, and it's much easier to understand.

What do you mean with "chronological order"? Does it mean that new papers should always be added at the end? --M.T. 14:21, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

The most common suggestions here recently at the talk page has been to either make this article more encyclopedic in style, even if it makes it more difficult to understand, or to make it more popular so that it's accessible to more people. One solution to this dilemma suggested itself when I read the Monty Hall paradox article recently. It has a separate version in Simple English! We could do the same for this article. No doubt, a Simple English version will be far more difficult to write than this one. But it might be worth a try, don't you think? iNic 04:25, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the papers are added "in order of appearance." It makes it easy to add new ones at the end as they pop up. The list is already quite long and confusing, and if we add different versions of the same basic ideas from all authors as separate entries we only add to length and confusion, not to content. iNic 04:25, 3 January 2007 (UTC)