I remember when at school thinking that the intelligence tests of the form "what is the next number in the sequence" only served to prove that the questioners weren't intelligent enough to be testing other people's intelligence.

The reason is that for example, the next number in the sequence 1,2,3,4,5, ? can be anything you like (even -7 x phi is as good an answer as any). Worse still, there are an uncountably infinite number of different formulas that can "justify" the sixth number being -7 x phi.

You also need an infinite number of examples to overcome that problem -- even if you knew all 200000 answers, they wouldn't help you with the 200001th for the same reason.

Your only recourse is to interview whoever has the business knowledge behind the formula.

-M

Free your mind

In reply to Re: Reverse engineering a formula... by Moron
in thread Reverse engineering a formula... by devnul

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