[ChuckFrank]

37% of what? equal what? did I miss the suggested number? I see that it's dependent on the number of people that you are considering, from 10 to 100, but that leaves a difference of between 4 and 40 people to date. How do we know how many people, total, we would date, when we are just starting?

I get the feeling that this article only has half the math.

As an aside, I've heard that the optimum number for this equation is in fact 12. So 12 is the 38%. But this article doesn't confirm that - as far as I can tell.

[rhino369]

It probably depends on your starting age and how long before you really want to get married (women have biological restraints and unless you want a large age difference men do too), and how long you'd date before accurately rating.

12 is probably too high. That would mean you'd date over 30 people. People who are single their whole life don't seriously date that many people.

The article suggests 11 as the number of suitors (as an assumption, not conclusion). That's probably fair, maybe even too high.

So you should settle for the best partner (of any previous) after number 4. That could be 5 but it could also be 6 or 10.

[teen]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_problem (more info here)