[thelist] selection refining application (extended)

Warden, Matt mwarden at odyssey-design.com
Sat Sep 2 17:09:42 CDT 2000


Rudy,

This seems like a great time to ask a question that I've always wanted to
know about:

> the 1 to 5 scale is fine
>
> so each product will have a score, like 3,4,2
>
> and of course let them make all three choices on the same page before
> pushing the "what product does this equate to" button

What if we weren't doing an equation? What if we were doing a score-based
match. So, the exact match would show first, then the next-closest match,
then the next-closest match. I mean, someone might answer the cost question
falsely hoping it would have some future effect on price. Therefore, they
won't get the best match back to them, just the match that the program
*thinks* is best. But, if the best match and close matches are listed,
there's a better chance that the customer will buy.

Kinda sounds like it would be some type of arithmatic SQL voodoo, thus the
toss to you. Something like...?

(note: [variable])

SELECT *
FROM Chainsaws
where (
    ([form.score1]/score1 + [form.score2]/score2 + [form.score3]/score3) >=
(3-[offset]))

where [offset] is the variable that determines how high a schore must be to
be a match. It's a mess, I know. I think I'm close, but what if form.score2
is 5 and score2 is 1. Then, it's automatically a match according to my SQL,
even though it is SO far off. What I was thinking was that if form.score1 is
3 and score1 is 3, then 3/3 is 1. If all scores were like that, then it
would add up to 3. So, maybe that will spark a thought in someone's head.

Any ideas?

--
mattwarden
mattwarden.com





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