Patent ID: 8170905

Claim:
A method comprising: providing, by a computer, a current rate of a first product; providing, by the computer, a first reference elasticity for the first product as a function of a unit profit function of the first product with respect to the current rate and an average volume of the first product, wherein the function further includes a constant of proportionality between the unit profit function and the average volume; expressing, by the computer, a first bound of the constant of proportionality as a first conditional inequality relating the first bound to a function of the unit profit function and the average volume; expressing, by the computer, a second bound of the constant of proportionality as a second conditional inequality relating the second bound to a function of the unit profit function and the average volume; solving, by the computer, for the first bound and the second bound; estimating, by the computer, the constant of proportionality to be an average of the first bound and the second bound; and solving, by the computer, for the first reference elasticity.