At 6:07 PM -0500 12/6/07, Nathan Nobbe wrote:
On Dec 6, 2007 4:59 PM, tedd <tedd@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> The problem is, could you guarantee to a "preferred" service provider
> that they would receive top-listing 25 percent of the time? Keep in
> mind that preferred service providers will overlap. So, the question
> is how to accommodate for that overlap?
>
> If anyone has an algorithm, I would be interested in hearing it.
i think that should be pretty easy. the algorithm is dependent upon
2 values. the number of listings you consider as top-listings for
each result set and the number of customers that are registered as
preferred customers.
let me illustrate. imagine you designate only the first entry of the
resultant listings as a *
top-listing*. in that case you can support a maximum of 4 preferred
customers before you
can no longer guarantee to each of the preferred customers their
listing will be
a top-listing 25% of the time. so, if you want more capacity you
can increase the number
of results that are designated as top-listing results.
suppose you increase the number to 2, now you have a capacity of 8
customers you can guarantee top-listing status 25% of the time.
what you would need to determine is what to do if ever you didnt
want to increment the number of listings that are designated as
top-listing customers and you were already at capacity for the
number of customers the current capacity supports.
Yes, that was pretty easy, but that was not the answer to the
question -- my error for not explaining it better.
Let me rephrase the question by providing an example.
Let's say we have a customer base that is spread-out at random over a
geographic area. Each customer has designated a 50 mile radius from
their location as being within their zone -- the map would look like
a bomb saturation map, if you know what I mean.
Now, many of those areas overlap so that if a end-user is within that
overlap he can see all the service providers that can provide
service. It's a simple matter to pull those providers out of a
database depending upon distance and show them to him. After all,
that's the way it works, isn't it? The end-user is provided all the
service providers who are within their service range.
However, if you are also considering that some of these service
providers should be shown as "preferred" (i.e., at the top 25 percent
of the time) then you might find yourself in a position of over
selling the top position because there may be too many "preferred"
service providers in certain areas.
Now, what I need is a way to analyze the distribution of the current
service providers to see if a given location is open to being sold as
a "preferred" position -- do you see what I mean?
Another example, let's say we have four "preferred" service providers
at the same location. Obviously, we could not sell another
"preferred" position within 100 miles.
Another example, let's say we have four "preferred" service providers
100 miles apart, clearly we can sell more "preferred" positions. But,
the number of positions available depends upon the distribution of
the original four. If they were located in a straight line, then we
could sell two positions between each one. But, if they were
distributed in a square, we could only sell one. Do you see?
I know what solution I will be using unless someone comes up with
something different. I just want to tap this knowledgeable group
before I spin my wheels trying to solve a problem, that may be
already solved.
Thanks, for your time.
Cheers,
tedd
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