On 26 Nov 2003, Allen Esterson wrote:

> I was unable to replicate Stephen�s Google citation results for
> Newton, Shakespeare, Darwin, Einstein, Marx and Freud:
>
> >Newton: 7.83 [million]
> >Shakespeare: 5.82
> >Darwin: 4.25
> >Einstein: 3.79
> >Marx: 3.21
> >Freud: 2.04
>
> My results were:
> Newton: 5.25
> Shakespeare: 3.91
> Darwin: 2.85
> Einstein: 2.55
> Marx: 2.16
> Freud: 1.37
>
> I noticed that although the figures are very different, the *order* of
> the above lists are identical, so I calculated the ratio of the
> numbers in List 1 compared to List 2 for each entry (i.e., Newton
> 1/Newton 2, etc). To an accuracy of three significant figures these
> ratios were identical: 1.49. So the *relative* number of hits in the
> two lists is almost the same for these particular names.

Still more curious. In my post, I had noted:

"Funny thing. I re-did them just before sending and they were all up
substantially, one ranking even changing place. I guess the Google
hits aren't stable for some reason".

Well, the numbers I got the _first_ time were identical to those now
reported by Allen. My second run produced the higher figures which I
used in my post. I just ran them again this morning, and the figures
I get confirm my second (higher) version, with only small deviations
from them.

This could become a full-time job. What's going on?

Stephen

___________________________________________________
Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.            tel:  (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology         fax:  (819) 822-9661
Bishop's  University           e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC  J1M 1Z7
Canada

Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at
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