Elevator paradox

:This article refers to the elevator paradox in terms of the transport device. For the elevator paradox in water, see elevator paradox (water).

Modelling the elevator problem

Several attempts (beginning with Gamow and Stern) were made to analyze the reason for this phenomenon, which is more difficult to analyze than it at first seems.

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Essentially, the explanation seems to be this: a single elevator spends most of its time in the larger section of the building, and thus is more likely to approach from that direction when the prospective elevator user arrives. An observer who remains by the elevator doors for hours or days, observing every elevator arrival, rather than only observing the first elevator to arrive, would note an equal number of elevators traveling in each direction.

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A similar effect can be observed in railway stations near the end of a railway line running a shuttle service, or watching a single car going round an oval racetrack from a point near one of the ends of the racetrack.

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