Recommender

##Intro To help users connect with each other, we implemented a basic recommendation system that sorts the users on the connect page based on a rank number. That rank number is generated from several parameters that we chose to reflect a given user's standing in the community, using karma points as a proxy. We also personalized the rankings based on what the current user's desired skills to learn are and what other community member's are able to teach.

##Ranking Function As it stands the current ranking function used to generate a users rank is defined by the following equation:

rank = a_1 * karmaPoints + a_2 * numberOfIntersectingSkills

where a_1 and a_2 are weight parameters.

##Future Plans We plan to add more variables into the rank function to add a more personalization. We also plan to factor in a user's location and possibly how busy a given user is, based on the number of scheduled meetings they have.