In this must-have for anyone who wants to better understand their love life, a mathematician pulls back the curtain and reveals the hidden patterns-from dating sites to divorce, sex to marriage-behind the rituals of love.The roller coaster of romance is hard to quantify; defining how lovers might feel from a set of simple equations is impossible. But that doesn’t mean that mathematics isn’t a crucial tool for understanding love. Love, like most things in life, is full of patterns. And mathematics is ultimately the study of patterns-from predicting the weather to the fluctuations of the stock market, the movement of planets or the growth of cities. These patterns twist and turn and warp and evolve just as the rituals of love do. In The Mathematics of Love, Dr. Hannah Fry takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the patterns that define our love lives, applying mathematical formulas to the most common yet complex questions pertaining to love: What’s the chance of finding love? What’s the probability that it will last? How do online dating algorithms work, exactly? Can game theory help us decide who to approach in a bar? At what point in your dating life should you settle down? From evaluating the best strategies for online dating to defining the nebulous concept of beauty, Dr. Fry proves-with great insight, wit, and fun-that math is a surprisingly useful tool to negotiate the complicated, often baffling, sometimes infuriating, always interesting, mysteries of love. Review “A smart, snappy guide to romance that dips into mathematical models…On-screen and on the page, Fry has a wry, chatty voice that illuminates age-old questions in brainy yet simple language.” ― Washington Post About the Author Dr. Hannah Fry is a mathematician and complexity scientist from University College London’s Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis. Fry also regularly presents the Number Hub strand of BBC Worldwide’s YouTube channel, Headsqueeze. Her first TED talk attracted more than 500,000 views across all TED channels and evolved into her first book, The Mathematics of Love. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Mathematics of Love INTRODUCTION I’d like to begin with a confession: I am not an expert in love. I have never taken a course in psychology; I understand only the basics of human biochemistry; and my own dating history-much like everyone else’s-is a mixed bag of successes mingled with a healthy series of disasters. What I am, however, is a mathematician. And in my day job of teasing out and understanding the patterns in human behavior, I’ve come to realize that mathematics can offer a new way of looking at almost anything-even something as mysterious as love. My aim in writing this book is not to replace any of the other excellent sources available on the science of human connection. I wouldn’t be qualified to describe the intangible thrill, all-consuming passion, or world-ending despair that love can bring. If that’s what you’re after, might I recommend you simply turn to nearly every painting, poem, sculpture, or song created over the last 5,000 years. Instead, I want to try and offer you a different perspective on the most talked-about subject in the history of human existence, using mathematics as a guide. You would be forgiven for thinking that love and mathematics don’t seem to naturally sit well together. Human emotions, unlike mathematical equations, are not neatly ordered or well behaved, and the real thrill and essence of romance can’t easily be defined. But that doesn’t mean that mathematics doesn’t have something to offer. Because mathematics is ultimately the study of patterns-predicting phenomena from the weather to the growth of cities, revealing everything from the laws of the universe to the behavior of subatomic particles. And if we consider them honestly, none of those things is neatly ordered or easily predictable, either. Thankfully, love-
