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The only mathematical formula I have ever memorized is the rule of thumb for dating and age: The half-your-age-plus-seven rule is practically infallible.

The Ragbag has gone to the trouble of charting out the f(x) = ½x + 7 rule, and the logical upper limit rule that follows, the 2(x-7) rule for dating cougars.

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23 replies on “Practical Math”

  3. @2 …only if one is 14 years old…[squeen]

    sweet-zombie-jebuz, that has very generous tolerances compared to my puritanical: ones_own_age +/- 5 years.

  4. I am not dating a 26 year old. No way, well Michael Arden wouldn’t be too bad if he’s packing between his legs.

    But no way would I date a 26 year old!!

  6. Another useful formula is 70 divided by the rate of growth, to get the time period in which something will double. So for instance, if China’s GDP is growing at 7%/year, then it doubles every 10 years (70/7).

  9. Using the 1/2X+7 / 2(X-7) rules I should be able to date women between the ages of 86 at the high end, and 32 at the low end.

    Both of those age extremes seem, well, just wrong.

  10. I find it kind of weird that some people have such a hugely narrow age range for those they’re willing to meet. I mean, it must be a useful strategy for people who get inundated with propositions so they need to narrow it down, but I wonder how common that is.

    Touching on the “half-your-age-plus-seven rule,” I reeeeally don’t know if I want to date a 19-year-old. It really depends on the person, but I’d definitely pause. Still hottest for men in their late thirties to mid forties — though I guess that’ll take on a different slant once I hit that age range myself.

  13. Between 22 and 46 for me. So I guess all those 25-year-olds who’ve been hitting on me lately were well within range.

  14. Thing is @11, a significant percentage, perhaps even a majority of the women I know and socialize with on a regular basis trend in the lower-to-mid 30’s range already. And while many of them are also quite (and in more than a few instances, exceptionally) attractive – a lot of them are performers, after all – I just can’t envision myself getting involved with them romantically. Admittedly, a lot of that is due to my “flipping over the coin” as it were, and looking at it from their point-of-view, which leads me to believe (based at least in part on actual conversations I’ve had with some of them to regarding this very issue) an overwhelming majority of them would feel very uncomfortable being asked out by a 50 year old guy.

  15. @7 – actually, the upper age range for men has more to do with perceived fertility (upper end) and lower limit perceived flakiness. For women, economic resources are a higher impact.

    You’re just seeing an artifact of a Tailed curve, it’s not a bell curve, more like a disease/health curve (two Tailed curves overlapping, most people distribute on the Healthy end, and sick distribute on the Sick end).

  16. @3: I didn’t mean that it would produce the same result, just that it’s two sides of the same equation.

    If you’re 30, your low-range is 22. And if you’re 22, you’re high-range is 30.

    Then again, I’ve already spent too much time thinking about this…

  17. Oh, I know, Comte . . . all too well. But every once in a while you do run across a woman who’s into older men. It happens. Not very often, but it happens.

  19. Comte, you just haven’t met your Ruth Gordon yet. And apparently, I haven’t yet met my George Burns.

    (86?! Are they on crack?)

  22. Gah. I’m so sick of hearing about the “half you age plus seven” rule. I’m 20, my boyfriend is 40, and we’re going to get married. Can we please use the “as long as there’s consent and it’s legal, age doesn’t matter” rule? If age matters to you, it matters, but why should I listen to other people when they try to tell me what age is “appropriate?”

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