Extreme value theory and the St. Petersburg paradox in the failure statistics of wires

The fracture stress of materials typically depends on the sample
size and is traditionally explained in terms of extreme value statistics. A recent
work reported results on the carrying capacity of long polyamide and polyester
wires and interpret the results in terms of a probabilistic argument known as
the St. Petersburg paradox. Here, we show that the same results can be better
explained in terms of extreme value statistics. We also discuss the relevance of
rate dependent effects.