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arXiv · 2007.05883

The Waiting-Time Paradox

Naoki Masuda·Mason A. Porter
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Abstract

Suppose that you're going to school and arrive at a bus stop. How long do you have to wait before the next bus arrives? Surprisingly, it is longer - possibly much longer - than what the bus schedule suggests intuitively. This phenomenon, which is called the waiting-time paradox, has a purely mathematical origin. Different buses arrive with different intervals, leading to this paradox. In this article, we explore the waiting-time paradox, explain why it happens, and discuss some of its implications (beyond the possibility of being late for school).

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Naoki Masuda, Mason A. Porter. 2020-07-12. The Waiting-Time Paradox. https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.05883

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