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Imagine a love equation. Could there be such a thing? Could it possibly work? While I haven’t come across any proven accounts, one professor seems to have figured a formula that, wait for it, is supposed to figure the ideal time to settle down.
Settling down is a rather boring way of looking at life. It kind of reminds me of sitting down for an extended break and often features attitudes that dance around concepts of futility. What is interesting though, is that a mathematician finds love interesting enough to formulate. Then again, if mathematicians don’t make mathematics sexy, to inspire new university students, then who is going to make math sexy? According to the math professor behind the ‘fiancee formula’, the formula is supposed to pinpoint the ideal time to marry or settle with that one partner.
Women of the world, watch out. Men now have another reason to avoid the ultimate marriage commitment: probability.
In an endeavour to show the application of mathematics to everyday life, statisticians from the University New South Wales (UNSW) may be able to help Australian men decide the right time to choose a bride.
The question of whether (and when) to propose has taxed bachelors for centuries. However, according to academics, a better guide could lie in probability and the „theory of optimal stopping‟ – a sequential decision-making process which is used in many areas, such as medical clinical trials.
As a offshoot of wider research, UNSW statistician Professor Bruce Brown, has calculated a model which gives men a 37% success rate of finding the best partner from a pool of marriage prospects – not bad odds given the divorce rate is predicted to rise as high as 50% for current brides and grooms.*
To work out when you, or your man, should pop the question, follow the process below.
- First of all, set out the last possible age by which you want to get married, for example, 39. Call this number n.
- Then, decide the earliest age at which you‟ll start to consider women as potential wife material, for example, from when you turn 20 onwards. This age becomes p.
- Subtract p from n (i.e 39- 20), then multiply the result by 0.368. This gives you 6.992, which then needs to be added back to your minimum age (20), which more or less equals 27. This result is your optimal proposal age. Ideally you should not propose to anyone before you hit this age, but afterwards you should prepare to pop the question to the very next girl you date – as long as she‟s the best of the bunch so far.[source]
Math can’t get any more sexier or can it?
I wish math was as exciting in high school as professors can make it at university. I’ve always thought that teaching math is all about the attitude of the teacher.
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