Determining the Age Range for Dating
Published on February 8, 2010
I found an interesting article that proposes a math equation for suggesting the age of people you should be willing to date. I really liked this idea although as the person’s age increases, the less correct this equation seems. I really thought it worked well at the lower age ranges but in the 40s things started to get a little excessive first for the upper limit and then later for the lower limit as well.
For example, my dad happens to be 57 years old. The equation given would suggest that his optimal dating range would be between 36.5 and 100. While I could see my dad dating someone around 37 (although he’s married so he won’t be!) I just couldn’t imagine him having anything in common with someone who was 100.
With that in mind, I decided to try my hand at an equation by adding a hard cap to to both the upper and lower limit. Things still aren’t perfect but the ranges seem more reasonable. The new equation (created using excel) is:
Lower Limit
=IF(YOUR_AGE – SUM((YOUR_AGE/2)+7) > 20, YOUR_AGE-20, SUM((YOUR_AGE/2)+7)) (rounded down when a fraction)
Upper Limit
=IF(((YOUR_AGE-7)*2) – YOUR_AGE > 20, YOUR_AGE+20, (YOUR_AGE-7)*2)
For the lower limit, I’m checking if the lower range is more than 20 years younger than YOUR_AGE and if it is I’m capping it at 20 years younger. The same concept is applied to the upper limit. Here’s what my initial results look like:
While it’s not perfect (it’s still hard for me to imagine my dad dating someone who is 77) I do think the limits look better with the artificial caps applied.
Again, you can see the original article that this discussed this idea in detail over at Insatiable Hee. As that article points out, you should date the person who makes you happy (regardless of age) and I made this chart out of interest for the topic, not as some kind of rule that I think should be followed without question.
Author: Brad
Brad initially struggled with online dating but over time became quite successful using it. He met his wife using online dating and has been giving advice and helping people improve their results since 2007. He has written a Free Online Dating Guide to help others find success with online dating. You can learn more about his personal experience using online dating and running this website here.
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