Can someone please explain the elevator paradox?

1. Jun 21, 2014

Nerdydude101

I tried searching it up but the only good place i found was wikipedia that actually talked about it and i hate wikipedia because it tries to explain complex things in complex ways instead of making them simple. Thanks!

2. Jun 21, 2014

micromass

What is the elevator paradox?

3. Jun 21, 2014

UltrafastPED

4. Jun 21, 2014

Nerdydude101

Yeah

5. Jun 21, 2014

OCR

6. Jun 22, 2014

Staff: Mentor

This paradox really isn't complicated. Assume that when you arrive and begin to wait for the elevator the elevator is on a random floor in the building (for simplicity assume equal probability of being on each floor). If the elevator is randomly above you then it will have to come down to get you, if it is randomly below you then it will have to come up to get you. If there are more floors above you than below you then the probability of it being above is greater than the probability of it being below and therefore the probability of a downwards elevator is greater than an upwards elevator.