<p>I’d be SO HAPPY if this idea actually works!</p>
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<p>*Note: In the movie, this is an algorithm used to rank girlss faces on a website called facemash. Everytime you ‘play’ it or whatever, you are shown 2 random faces from a very large database, and you choose which one is prettier. After the data is collected, the algorithm works out the rankings of each face, based on all the comparisons. It’s a lot better than ranking by rating on a scale of 1-10, because everyone has different opinions on what a ‘10’ is. It’s better than voting, because voting usually means you miss out on the option of choosing a certain school.</p>
<p>I agree. It would be a great idea. At the moment, I’m on a school computer and it blocked out the link to the algorithm explanation (although I’ve got the algorithm memorized - I’ve watched that movie about five times). I’ll look at it when I get home.</p>
<p>At the moment I’m learning about webdesign and coding (I’ve created a couple of websites) and I would be willing to try it out. I am of course nowhere near as great as Zuckerberg, but I’d like to give it a try.</p>
<p>I’m sorry for the DP, but I just read the article, and I have no idea what the article is talking about. I think I’ll ask a teacher at my school tomorrow.</p>
<p>@KissKob - I don’t think this is really about finding out which prep school is the best and which one we should go to. It’s more about just rating for fun, like in the Social Network.</p>
<p>I don’t know. Perhaps we could message each other about this, vivsters, if you think it’s a worthy project (after all, it was your idea).</p>
<p>US News ranks schools in order to sell magazines. What would be your point? The beauty of boarding schools is that there are a wide array of them and that a person can find the right school for their needs. Ranking systems appeal to the basest of human desires - simplicity over nuance and research and a need to feel superior to other people.</p>
<p>Sbergman, it wouldn’t be for ranking schools as in ranking them officially. I look at it as kind of like a game.</p>
<p>My point in this is that I get to learn more code and understand algorithms. I definitely wouldn’t expect it to blow up like facemash did or anything. It’s just a little project that might help me learn.</p>
<p>@vivsters,
The Bunkel Index is a program that calculates your chances of being accepted. It’s very expensive, and is noted to be very pessimistic about people’s chances. Personally, I don’t think that a machine can calculate someone’s chances, no matter how comprehensive it is.</p>
<p>The Bunkel Index does much more than calculate “chances”. Tho’ fif has never been a fan, Bunkel does rank in a number of useful categories (and some not so useful).
Long time readers will know that fif is a staunch advocate of the WBTY Indices, the oldest and most respected ranking system. And the Pierrepont-Morgan Report also brings much to the table.</p>
<p>Well if the Bunkel Index is very expensive, not a lot of people will be able to use it. But if we made a website like prepmash, then everyone could ‘play’, have fun, and have another reference when choosing schools.</p>
<p>Does anyone out there understand this algorithm? (and how to use it for a website…?)</p>
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<p>Ea is the probability of “a” winning a match against “b”.
The correct equations are:
Ea = 1 / (1 + 10 ^ ((Rb-Ra)/400) )
Eb = 1 / (1 + 10 ^ ((Ra-Rb)/400) )
Being two probabilities, Ea+Eb=1</p>
<p>Ra is the “rating” of “a”.
As Haseeb well explained, the rating changes after every match, according to this formula:
Ra(t+1) = Ra(t) + K * ( W – Ea )
where W=1 if “a” wins / W=0 if “a” loses.
The same for Rb.</p>