backerman: Two meerkittens being cute (Default)
Brad Ackerman ([personal profile] backerman) wrote2007-08-04 09:55 pm

"I love humans. They're always seeing patterns in things that aren't there."

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing Items Like This?
90% buy the item featured on this page:
Penn & Teller - Bullsh*t - The Complete Fourth Season DVD ~ Scott Schaefer $24.99
3% buy
Penn & Teller - Bullsh*t! - The First Season DVD ~ Scott Schaefer $28.99
3% buy
Penn & Teller - Bullsh*t! The Complete Second Season DVD ~ Scott Schaefer $29.98
2% buy
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) by J. K. Rowling $17.99
2% buy
Penn & Teller - Bullsh*t - Three Season Pack DVD ~ Scott Schaefer $80.99

Unfortunately, the explanation is probably that everyone is buying book 7, and as such the correlation is not actually significant. (The title of this post is from the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie.

[identity profile] quen-elf.livejournal.com 2007-08-08 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I've noticed it before. It is really depressing that Amazon are using the wrong method to generate that data (they should be comparing those proportions to the general population and only showing those which are significantly higher, basically, I forget the exact way to do it). I mean, this is very basic statistics, the error it causes is clearly obvious, and they're the largest online retailer in the world. I could understand it when the system was a new cool feature but now? Please.