The Paradox Portal
Psychological/Decision

Two Envelopes Paradox

Should you always switch envelopes?

Overview

A probability paradox where switching seems always beneficial, which can't be right.

Two envelopes contain money, one has twice the other. You pick one with $X. The other has either $2X or $X/2, average $1.25X. So you should switch. But you could reason this way after switching too, leading to infinite switching - clearly wrong.

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