I'm thinking of a number.....

[Bikewer]

I'm sure everyone has seen the TV commercial for the online credit-check service, with the "spokesmodel" sitting there in front of a scale that goes from
450 to 850.

Why such weird numbers? Why wouldn't your "credit score" simply be a 1-100 scale or somesuch?

 

[Crispy Duck]

Bad guess... maybe everyone living in the USA has seen it, but I haven't.

To the question - maybe the number encodes some standardised value of your disposable income? It could be $450 - $850 / month, or $45k per year, etc.

Just a guess

 

[HarryKeogh]

I just checked Wikipedia and the range is 300 to 850. They also discuss what components make up your score but they make no mention why they use that seemingly odd number range. And apparently the formula used to derive your credit score "is a closely guarded secret".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_score#Makeup_of_the_FICO_score

 

[tsg]

Sleep Number Beds do the same kind of thing. The scale is from 0-100 in increments of 5 instead of 0-20.

 

[Psi Baba]

Sleep Number Beds do the same kind of thing. The scale is from 0-100 in increments of 5 instead of 0-20.

I would think in that case, it's probably to give the illusion that you have more settings available than you really do.

 

[Pastor Bentonit]

I´m thinking of 404765. That is truly amazing! Where´s my money?

Yesterday, on the bus, the number "3.1415926535897932384626433" (something) came to mind. Does that make sense to you?

 

[Hitch]

I'm sure everyone has seen the TV commercial for the online credit-check service, with the "spokesmodel" sitting there in front of a scale that goes from
450 to 850.

Why such weird numbers? Why wouldn't your "credit score" simply be a 1-100 scale or somesuch?

The same reason SAT scores are 400 to 1600?

 

[HarryKeogh]

The same reason amplifiers go to 11?

 

[John Jackson]

Yesterday, on the bus, the number "3.1415926535897932384626433" (something) came to mind. Does that make sense to you?

It's making no sense at all. I don't half feel hungry now though...

 

[Katachresis]

You're all wrong. It has something to do with the metric system. Or Kelvin/Celsius/Fahrenheit, I forget which.

 

[tsg]

I would think in that case, it's probably to give the illusion that you have more settings available than you really do.

Yes. Typical innumeracy.

 

[tsg]

Yesterday, on the bus, the number "3.1415926535897932384626433" (something) came to mind. Does that make sense to you?

"I was a scientist before I became a bad actor, and I know what that number is..."

 

[no one in particular]

Sleep Number Beds do the same kind of thing. The scale is from 0-100 in increments of 5 instead of 0-20.

Ah, perhaps they intend to add more exact refinements as the technology improves or ages.


.

 

[tsg]

Ah, perhaps they intend to add more exact refinements as the technology improves or ages.

Oh, I'm pretty sure the decision to use a scale of 0-100 was made in Marketing and not R&D. 100 > 20 where ">" means "better than".

ETA: I'm thinking of marketing the same bed that has a scale of 0-200 step 10.