Talk:Exchange paradox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Merge with "Two envelopes problem"?

Should be deleted/merged with Two envelopes problem. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.238.155.94 (talk • contribs) 00:50, 1 March 2007 (UTC).

If this develops into an article about the decision problem per se it would be justified, I think. iNic 12:25, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Where is the edit history for this page? Who added all the case 2 info and where is it from?--Dacium 00:37, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Did a redirect to Two envelopes problem. iNic 09:59, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Bad idea. The articles are very different. --X-Bert 22:42, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes the articles are quite different, I agree there. But are the subjects different? Can you please explain in more detail why you think the ideas in this article aren't covered in the Two envelopes problem article? Does your article describe another subject than does the Two envelopes problem article? Or do you have an issue with what this problem/paradox should be called in Wikipedia? Would you prefer to rename the main article to Exchange paradox? iNic 13:13, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

The article "Two envelopes problem" is about a puzzle and finding the flaw, the erroneous step, in the presented switching argument. This article is about the question "Should the player swap, that is, exchange the envelopes?" and a paradox resulting in a special case. Hence I think that the title "Exchange paradox" fits well. Imho the article "Two envelopes problem" would better be titled "Two envelopes puzzle". --X-Bert 21:04, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

I think this article should be merged into Two envelopes problem, or possibly just made into a redirect page. X-Bert's analysis (distinguishing between a "puzzle" and a "paradox") is incorrect. Both articles cover exactly the same thing. And the other article does a better job of it. DavidCBryant 18:16, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

XBert, if you want a separate article about the decision problem per se I support that, as I've already stated. However, your article here isn't even close to an article about the decision problem. All you have done here is to repeat in a more complicated way (more formulas) what is already stated in the main article (Two envelopes problem). And if you want to start an article about the decision problem I think the title Exchange paradox is a bad choice of name. I will soon delete this article again as it adds nothing new or different to wikipedia. iNic 21:25, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Dear iNic, obviously the topics of both articles are related, but the stated problems and the approaches to solve them are very different: In the article "Two envelopes problem" it is explicitly stated that it is about a puzzle and finding the flaw, the erroneous step, in the presented switching argument, while this article is about the question if and under what conditions a player should swap. So I think it would not make sense to merge one article into the other or delete one of them. If you don't like this article, please just ignore it, and if you would like to have an article about the decision problem, try to write one. --X-Bert 14:27, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

The two articles should be merged, per the arguments iNic and DavidCBryant give above. X-Bert, saying "please ignore this article" is not a good argument. —Lowellian (reply) 07:28, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

Actually, this wasn't my argument. My argument is given in the first two sentences. iNic's approach was to delete my article and replace it with a redirect to his article, which is definitely not appropriate. --X-Bert 09:37, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

There should be a single article mentioning the two variants. Petersburg 21:18, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes. In fact I have already had a lengthy discussion once before when two different articles were covering this issue. Let me quote myself: "It's not the case that there are two different problems, one called the "two envelopes problem" and another called the "envelope paradox." It's just two different names of the same thing. Actually, the problem/paradox have gotten many different names over the years. Accordingly, there should be only one page at wikipedia devoted to this problem/paradox. All the different names should be redirected to one and the same page." And one of the other common names in the literature is "Exchange paradox," so the same holds for this name. iNic 12:06, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

I would also suggest merging the Necktie Paradox into the common article. Petersburg 21:24, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

I would suggest to keep that article separated, extend it and explain the relation to the exchange paradox. --X-Bert 09:37, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

iNic explicitly emphasized that his article describes a puzzle where a flaw in the presented reasoning is to be found [1]. This article is about the more general question if and under what conditions a player should swap. There isn't much overlapping between the two articles. Therefore, merging this articles would rather be a long concatenation which becomes difficult to read. In my opinion it's better to keep them separated, but connected by links, so the reader can easily get from one to the other. --X-Bert 09:37, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Xbert, please understand that while this article can justifiably be described as your article (due to the fact that you are the only contributor), the Two envelopes problem article isn't "mine" in any way. I have contributed to it but so have many others too.

When it comes to the definition what this problem is all about, this is taken from the literature in the case of the Two envelopes problem article. Your definition what the problem is all about in this article I haven't seen anywhere in the literature. Advises of this kind pops up as spin-off effects for some authors, but are never the main theme. iNic 19:57, 15 November 2007 (UTC)