How does this contend with other optimal stopping problems? I just started reading 'Algorithms to Live By' and the very first chapter talks about the 37% rule [1], which feels similar. According to The Dating Problem [2] I should reject the first 37 candidates (when N=100 like in OP's example)

So do I reject the first 9 or 37 candidates?

source: [1] https://medium.com/galleys/optimal-stopping-45c54da6d8d0 [2] https://medium.com/intriguing-algorithms/thirty-seven-percen...