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]

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



random, halfbakery