Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Modern Constants

Interpret advertisements numerically
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We've all heard of pi, speed of light, Planck's constant; but there are words in modern advertising which have values associated with them too. I propose the following starting values, which should make ads a lot easier to read:

Label________________Value
As low as.................2
As much as...............2/3
Or more...................1
Or less....................1
Up to.......................1/3

Now you can interpret the following signs for what they really are:

Earn up to $300 or more --> Earn (1/3) (300) (1) = Earn $100

Lose as much as 10 pounds --> Lose (2/3) (10) pounds = Lose 6.66 pounds

As low as $500/month --> (2) ($500)/month = $1000/month

These estimates can be refined by consumer advocates who actually buy the product and see how much it costs to achieve a reasonable result or purchase a useable version of what's offered. These numerical values should be published in the top margin of the financial section of the newspapers so readers can become market-savvy.

phundug, Apr 11 2007

Legally_20Binding_20Use_20of_20Factorials [Texticle, Apr 11 2007]

[link]






       Ha! But this is not really an idea, so much as a joke, methinks.
DrCurry, Apr 11 2007
  

       I like.   

       See link for a somewhat-related gem of an idea.
Texticle, Apr 11 2007
  

       //so much as a joke//
If "As much as" = 2/3, then what does "so much as" equal?
  

       I think there may be some room for functions:
Low = 0.9 x high
High = 1.1 x low
Improved = Y x 1.01
Reduced = Y x 0.99
  

       Iterate until required value is achieved.
Ling, Apr 12 2007
  

       Hi Dr Curry!   

       I thought you were deleted in 2004?? :-)
Cosh i Pi, Apr 12 2007
  

       Consumption rising techniques make good measures for a company's need to sell, so here's an additional list of how-not-to-buy tips:   

       'Extra 20% free product' = they have managed to increase production 1.25 - fold, so if you buy this, you keep on paying 100% of the price. 'Take 3 / pay 2' pack = they have increased production by a 1.5 factor. Same as above, only it's harder for you to resist to temptation... '30% off cover price' = Mmmmh, so they still get 50-30 = 20% profit; just a bunch of burglars, I deem it. They normally steal 50% without resorting to gunfire!, not even threats!
mayihave, Aug 22 2007
  

       I discovered a new one, "from". On hotels.com they listed a couple of inexpensive hotels in my Los Angeles area query with prices of "from $109" and "from $119". The $109 actually costs $169 and the $119 actually costs $219, making the value of "from" approximately 1.78.
phundug, Sep 01 2007
  

       Huh, this sounds suspiciously like standard deviation bell curvery to me. So when they say that you can earn up to $10,000 per month, they mean if you are in the upper 2% of the bell curve you could earn "up to" that number and that everybody else in the company is earning around $3,333 per month on average.
quantum_flux, Sep 01 2007
  

       Your factors need to be changed. You're too optimistic.
kevinthenerd, Jun 10 2008
  

       Get it at a low low low price of $199, or even less!
Which would be $1,592.
I like it!
ldischler, Jun 11 2008
  

       I should mention the asterisk (*) which seems to have the effect of intensifying the multiplier, maybe raising it to some power.   

       For example, "Save up to $100* " evaluates to something like   

       Save (1/3)^2 ($100) = Save $11.11
phundug, Jun 11 2008
  
      
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