That's How It Happened

A Game Theoretic Approach to the Toilet Seat Problem is a humourous, but enlightened approach to an age old riddle:

"Now let us consider the scenario where John and Marsha (a hypothetical couple) cohabit and both use the same toilet. In our analysis we shall assume that John and Marsha perform toilet operations with the same frequency...and that the order in which they perform them is random. They discover to their mutual displeasure that their cohabitation adversely alters the toilet seat position transfer cost function for each of them. What is more there is an inherent conflict of interest."

As the article mentions, women supposedly have a smaller bladder volume. My own research as part of my thesis confirms that women do have a lower maximum bladder capacity, but contrary to folk wisdom tend to void at a higher volume. This provides support to the idea that John and Marsha should both adopt utilitarian Strategy J, in which:

"Each person retains the default strategy that they used before cohabiting."

Despite this, my general experience of cohabiting is that Strategy M (in which the toilet seat remains in the default down position) is usually ruthlessly enforced. I just have to be grateful not to live in a house operating on Strategy E (for emasculating), in which Marsha makes John perform both toilet operations #1 and #2 while seated.