1. A search method comprising: creating a list of candidate probe words; for each candidate probe word, counting a number of item descriptions that contain the candidate probe word; choosing, with a computer, q i probe words from the candidate probe words whose word count is closest to |D i |/(q i +1), where D i is a set of remaining item descriptions after a previous repetition, and q i represents a number of probe words presented for user selection for the ith repetition and is an integer greater than 1; presenting the q i probe words for selection by the user; receiving a selection of one of the q i probe words by the user; pruning the list of candidate probe words to eliminate item descriptions that include non-selected ones of the q i probe words to create a pruned list of candidate probe words; choosing q i+1 probe words from the pruned list of candidate probe words that is closest to |D i+1 |/(q i+1 +1), wherein D i+1 is a set of remaining item descriptions after the ith repetition, q i+1 represents a number of probe words presented for user selection for the i+1 repetition and is an integer greater than 1, and the pruned list of candidate probe words includes the selected one of the q i probe words; and presenting the q i+1 probe words for selection by the user.
1. A search method comprising: creating a list of candidate probe words; for each candidate probe word, counting a number of item descriptions that contain the candidate probe word; choosing, with a computer, q i probe words from the candidate probe words whose word count is closest to |D i |/(q i +1), where D i is a set of remaining item descriptions after a previous repetition, and q i represents a number of probe words presented for user selection for the ith repetition and is an integer greater than 1; presenting the q i probe words for selection by the user; receiving a selection of one of the q i probe words by the user; pruning the list of candidate probe words to eliminate item descriptions that include non-selected ones of the q i probe words to create a pruned list of candidate probe words; choosing q i+1 probe words from the pruned list of candidate probe words that is closest to |D i+1 |/(q i+1 +1), wherein D i+1 is a set of remaining item descriptions after the ith repetition, q i+1 represents a number of probe words presented for user selection for the i+1 repetition and is an integer greater than 1, and the pruned list of candidate probe words includes the selected one of the q i probe words; and presenting the q i+1 probe words for selection by the user. 2. The method recited in claim 1 , further including creating a new list of candidate probe words from the remaining item descriptions after the ith repetition wherein creating the new list of candidate probe words is performed after pruning the list of candidate probe words.