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The Optimal Retort

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Listed:
  • Quan-Hoang Vuong

Abstract

In Highest Honor (Vuong, 2024), Kingfisher’s committee builds a prize around three criteria chosen because he excels at them, announced on a banner as “Strength - Beauty - Fraternity.” Hawk wins by reading the same hyphens as minus signs: Honor = Strength − Beauty − Fraternity. This note shows that reversal is not merely clever but mathematically optimal: flipping a criterion’s sign changes a candidate’s margin by exactly twice the rival’s lead on it (Proposition 1), so the reading that damages a favorite most is unique, flip every criterion he leads on and nothing else (Proposition 2), and this is exactly Hawk’s reading.

Suggested Citation

  • Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2026. "The Optimal Retort," Working Papers CEB 26-010, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/412827
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