Richard Feynman’s formula for the best holiday restaurant
Richard Feynman's approach to finding the best holiday restaurant involves trying different places until one meets a declining quality threshold. This threshold decreases as the number of days left in the city reduces, reflecting less motivation to search for exceptional dining experiences. The strategy may vary depending on the distribution of restaurant quality in a given area.
- ▪Feynman's formula suggests trying a new restaurant each night until one exceeds a quality threshold.
- ▪The quality threshold declines more rapidly as the number of days left in the city decreases.
- ▪Researchers found that the strategy should change if the distribution of restaurant quality varies.
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| Original publisher | Marginal Revolution |
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| Publication time | Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:59:03 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-06-03T16:00:10.675Z |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Richard Feynman’s formula for the best holiday restaurant by Tyler Cowen June 3, 2026 at 11:59 am in Food and Drink According to Feynman’s approach, in this context, people should try a different restaurant each night until they find one that exceeds a particular threshold that reflects a desired quality. In Feynman’s equations this threshold is not fixed. Instead it declines more and more rapidly as the number of days left in the city reduces. In other words, as the days go by there is increasingly less motivation to hunt for an amazing dining spot, because the time you will have to enjoy it has decreased. “The thresholds are being guided by the best thing you might be able to find if you kept looking,” said Griffiths.
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