Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2016
Before some random moment θ, independent identically distributed random variables x1, · ··, xθ–1 with common distribution function μ (dx) appear consecutively. After the moment θ, independent random variables xθ, xθ+1, · ·· have another common distribution function f (x)μ (dx). Our information about θ can be constructed only by successively observed values of the x's.
In this paper we find an optimal stopping policy by which we can maximize the probability that the quantity associated with the stopping time is the largest of all θ + m – 1 quantities for a given integer m.