A publisher who is looking for new products decides to work with four parameters: kinds of books, properties of books, processes of publishing, and forms of information. Under each parameter, he lists ten variations, allowing 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 or 10,000 possible combinations. Assuming a 10 percent yield of truly useful ideas, this gives him a possible 1,000 good ideas jumping over and around him like fleas.
