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...