Applying spreadsheet maths to consumer behaviour is folly

Rory Sutherland

When he was asked why he didn't turn his mind to economics, the Nobel prize winning mathematician Max Planck replied: "I couldn't.

Applying spreadsheet maths to consumer behaviour is folly

Rory SutherlandOgilvyOne

Any system that relies on feedback loops – such as consumer behaviour – is invariably too complex to be reduced to simple numerical values.

Max Planck, the German theoretical physicist, had a friend who was an economist. "Why don't you turn your mind to economics, Max?" the friend once asked. "I couldn't," he replied. "The maths is too difficult."

This is a rather surprising answer. Planck was the father of quantum theory and a mathematician of rare genius. As one contemporary economist remarked, he could have mastered all the...

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