By at least a factor of 1000. Maybe 1000000?
Posted on 01/13/2010 8:06:35 PM PST by Fractal Trader
A man studying in London has taken a mathematical equation that predicts the possibility of alien life in the universe to explain why he can't find a girlfriend.
Peter Backus , a native of Seattle and PhD candidate and Teaching Fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick, near London, in his paper, " Why I don't have a girlfriend: An application of the Drake Equation to love in the UK ," used math to estimate the number of potential girlfriends in the UK.
In describing the paper on the university Web site he wrote "the results are not encouraging. The probability of finding love in the UK is only about 100 times better than the probability of finding intelligent life in our galaxy."
Click Liverpool reported that Backus, 30, found that of the 30 million women in the UK, only 26 would be suitable girlfriends for him. His equation looked at the total number of women in the country, then narrowed it down using relevant factors including the number of women in London; the number of "age-appropriate" women (those aged between 24-34); women with a college degree; and those who Backus would find physically attractive.
In the paper Backus summarized that on a given night out in London there is a 0.0000034 percent chance of meeting a woman that meets his criteria and who is also interested in him. That makes his odds of finding a girlfriend only about 100 times better than finding an alien.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxcharlotte.com ...
Way high.
He’s also gay, which makes the odds even worse.
There’s an XKCD toon just waiting to be written here...
Lower your standards....increase your odds.
Classic scene from Survivor. Contestent Yul Kwon (while standing on a narrow wooden ledge on a pole 15' above the ground) explaining how the cube-square law disadvantages larger players and concluding "and that's why elephants can't run up tree-trunks < beat> I'm never, ever going to get a date again, am I?"
It seems kind of silly to try to predict the possibility of an event occurring about which we have no real knowledge. I have no idea how any equation can possibly predict the probability of finding extraterrestrial life.
Therefore, the equation is also unlikely to predict the guy’s chances of finding a girlfriend.
However, there is a way to determine his chances, and it hardly requires math at all. Just show his pics to some females and observe their reactions. If he’s a long, greasy haired nerd with a bad complexion and unfashionable ill-fitting clothes, his chances are quite slim.
By at least a factor of 1000. Maybe 1000000?
It ain’t the math buddy; try using a mirror.....
Big boobies.
Dear Peter,
I’m the woman at the bar reading a book on astrophysics and drinking an Irish Coffee.
If I may suggest: stop looking for the ideal woman. Why? Because she is looking for the ideal man. Do you get it now? They don’t exist.
Instead make friends with women you meet. After all, if you do marry one of them you’ll have someone fairly agreable with which to live.
If all your relationship is based upon is her attractiveness and your libido, well here’s a hint - neither will last. The world is filled with beautiful divorced women whose ex-husbands think they’re both stupid and difficult.
Better to marry a woman who, if she were a man, would be your best friend. Looks and libido soon fade; friendships tend to endure.
Brings to mind the words of a professor of mine in grad school talking about not finding an exact solution to an equation - something like ‘As with marriage, you sometimes have to find a reasonable approximation and go with it.”
“He’s also gay, which makes the odds even worse.”
Then, he’s looking in the wrong city & zip codes.
” If he’s a long, greasy haired nerd with a bad complexion and unfashionable ill-fitting clothes, his chances are quite slim.”
Well, I am a long-haired nerd with the worst complexion you ever saw - in fact, I am hopped up on prednizone and cipro right now, trying to improve things. Hey look, a chicken! Wait, let’s go paint the house!
And my clothes are dismal - you would not believe it. My underwear is older than my kids. So is my shirt. And I rarely wear shoes.
It seems somebody fell for the schtick.
Go Ugly Early
was the moto of some of my squadron mates.
I did this same equation 25 years ago after looking at what?
Carl Sagans equations of alien life. Very easy, degreed in Math
I'm not sure that approach will work for him either, since in my experience most young scientists want to talk about their incomprehensible work aaaaalll the time, and their best friends tend also to be scientists working in the same field so they can understand each other.
He's an attractive lad, but his problems are not unique or surprising. The more educated and intelligent one is, the fewer potential mates will be available. This young man is probably in the top one-tenth of one percent of the population in terms of intelligence, so there aren't going to be many people, male or female, who can keep up with him intellectually. If he's like almost every other hard-science PhD candidate, he probably obsesses about his research 24-7-365 and might not be able to talk about anything else at this point in his life, which will make him a dead bore as well as generally inexperienced compared to other young men of his age.
But eventually most of these guys end up getting married to somebody who supports and tolerates their work.
He isn’t gay, those Brits just sound like poofters.
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