From: terrell@sam.neosoft.com (Buford Terrell)
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 95 09:49:27 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Num Rat
Message-ID: <199507121652.LAA15243@sam.neosoft.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>
>
>I just looked @ the front of a M.O. computer catalog & the numerals in the
>prices are anything but random. A very heavy concentration of eights (8) &
>nines (9), apparently this company is more into $508.98 (color inkjet printer)
>& $38.98 (well known game s/w) than the old late night TV standby of
>"JUST $19.99!". Of course, this is because of excessively documented
>ad nauseum human psychological tendencies that salescritters, who set at
>least the lsd's of price, have been aware of for millenia. I'd bet, that
>5(five), 8(eight), & 9(nine) are significantly more represented across
>the board in prices (& thus in amounts for checks & tax write offs) than
>than their random distribution by Benford's Law or more well known tests
>for randomness would suggest. Has Mr. Negrini factored this into his program?
>I guess the lesson is do a few pgp make__random's & convert a few of the
>hex numbers to dec digits for the lsd's the next time one does creative expense
>reporting.
>
>tjh
>
Just an aside --
  J C Penney invented the $n.95 pricing scheme so that his clerks
would have to make change.  That way they had to use their registers,
recording the sale and the cash didn't just go into their pockets.
Even at that early date, proper security of automated systems depended
largely on human factors.

Buford C. Terrell                       1303 San Jacinto Street
Professor of Law                              Houston, TX 77002
South Texas College of Law                voice   (713)646-1857
terrell@sam.neosoft.com                     fax   (713)646-1766