# Math Help - Weighing 3 different factors of a subject and determining the best subject

1. ## Weighing 3 different factors of a subject and determining the best subject

Hey all -

New poster here! I wasn't sure where to post this question, so please direct me to the right forum if I need to ask

elsewhere.

I have a hypothetical question about the order of an array in which 3 factors of a specific object need to be maximized.

Let's say I want to go on vacation, but I don't necessarily know where I want to go. Price means the most to me, so the

cheaper the better. However I want a place that has been reviewed favorably. Third of all, I want a place that has a lot of

amenities (let's say I want to go to a beach resort and a pool and a golf course would be great amenities I would look for).

So in theory, I want the cheapest spot, with the best reviews and the most attractions. However, there is obviously no way I

can find one that is #1 in all 3.

I want to be able to populate a list that will order a lit from "best to worst" (I quote bc it is subjective to the consumer)

So in example (assuming there are 20 important attractions) :

Resort A: $150/night...98/100 in favorable reviews...18 of 20 attractions Resort B:$99/night...85/100 in favorable reviews...12 of 20 attractions
Resort C: $120/night...91/100 in favorable reviews...16 of 20 attractions All 3 are pretty similar, and Resort B looks the most appealing in price, but it is 3rd in the other 2 categories. Wherein, I can choose resort C for only$21 more a night and get more attractions and better reviews. Price is still important to me,

but Resort A has outstanding reviews and a ton of attractions - is \$51 more worth the splurge?

I know that in terms of an actual website, you would have the option to bargain shop and read up more on each resort. But

let's say I needed something as objective as possible in an algorithm that sorts from 1 to n (n being the number of resorts to

choose from).

How would I go about maximizing the value for each resort? Should I put a weight for each factor (ie: 55% price, 30% reviews,

15% amenities) and come to the result of a set number and order them that way?

Do I need a mode, median and range for all the hotels and determine the average price, and have the hotels around the average

price hold the most weight?

I hope this makes a little bit of sense, but if it is a little confusing then check out Hipmunk: Better Flight and Hotel Search. They have an

airplane sort (and a hotel sort which is similar to my question) that they use as their own. I used resorts as an example to make my question hopefully make a little more sense. How does one put math to a problem like this?

Thanks for any help!

2. ## Re: Weighing 3 different factors of a subject and determining the best subject

The best thing to do is to form percentages for "favorable reviews" and "attractions", multiply them, then divide by cost (since higher cost is bad).