Abstract
Selection from among n objects by relative rank with no recall - the "secretary problem" -in the asymptotic case when n → ∞ was considered, assuming that k, the cost ratio, is a finite constant. The essential part is what we shall call Phase 1, where the number of observations i remains to be O(√<n>). Then the expected number of observations is of course O(√<n>). The expected value of the attained absolute rank is also O(√<n>). It is interesting to not,e that, with the optimal rule, the expected cost of observations comes out to be equal to the expected rank.
