314: Dating Pools

2025-10-07T20:43:58Z

2607:F140:400:AF:2471:BBFC:6741:FAFF: /* Explanation */ Elaborate on the infinite age case

{{comic
| number = 314
| date = September 10, 2007
| title = Dating Pools
| image = dating pools.png
| titletext = The full analysis is of course much more complicated, but I can't stay to talk about it because I have a date.
}}

==Explanation==
[[File:half-plus-seven.png|right|Half Plus Seven Rule]]
[[Megan]] is upset because she is apparently older than 26, and among people who marry, {{w|median|half}} do so below 26. The intuitive conclusion is that the number of potential partners is decreasing as time goes on.

The {{w|Age disparity in sexual relationships#%22Half-your-age-plus-seven%22_rule|Half Plus Seven Rule}} is a rule that asserts that it is creepy to date anyone who is younger than half your age plus 7 years. For example, a 50-year-old dating someone who is younger than 32 (50/2 + 7 = 32) would be considered creepy. As the graph shows, there is a lower limit and an upper limit.

*The lower limit defines the minimum age of your partner in order that ''you'' are not considered creepy.
*The upper limit defines the maximum age of your partner in order that ''they'' are not considered creepy.

The lower limit can be defined as ''f(x)'' = ''x''/2 + 7 in which ''x'' is your age and ''f(x)'' is the minimum age of your partner. The upper limit can be defined as f-1(x) = 2(''x'' − 7) in which ''x'' is your age and ''f-1(x)'' is the maximum age of your partner.

As age increases, the age range of potential non-creepy partners widens. At 26, the range of non-creepy partners is 18 years (20- to 38-year-olds). At 50, it is 54 years (32 to 86 years old).

At age 14, you can only date people your own age. An analogue occurs with infinity where infinitely old people can only date other infinitely old people, but if we use age as a {{w|hyperreal number}}, we still get variation. However, this is moot because even {{w|Methuselah}} died once.

While the application of this rule actually reduces the number of potential matches further, [[Cueball]] presents it in a positive way by showing that there are whole swathes of people who she couldn't marry in the first place without being in a creepy relationship. But, as her age increases, the range of non-creepy partners also increases. Combined with {{w|United States Census Bureau|Census Bureau}} data for how many people exist within any such range, Cueball shows that her eligible dating pool is in fact still increasing.

Megan notes that graph-making nerds like Cueball may have a hard time finding dates, but Cueball claims otherwise in the title text, using this supposed date as an excuse to avoid going into more detail on his analysis.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is sitting on the ground with her elbows on her knees and her hands on her chin.]
:Megan: This sucks. The median first marriage age is 26. The pool of singles is shrinking. I'm running out of time.
:Cueball: Actually, not quite.

:Cueball: Yes, older singles are rarer. But as you get older, the dateable age range gets wider. An 18-year-old's range is 16–22, whereas a 30-year-old's might be more like 22–46.
:Text on chart: Standard creepiness rule: Don't date under (Age/2 + 7)

:Cueball: I did some analysis of this with the Census Bureau numbers just last weekend. Your dating pool actually grows until middle age. So don't fret so much!
:[The first chart is labeled "Singles" and is a decreasing graph. The second graph is labeled Dating Pool, and is a bell curve.]

:Megan: Did your analysis say anything about the dating prospects of people who spend weekends at home making graphs?
:Cueball: Come on. Somewhere at the edge of the bell curve is the girl for me.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Math]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

314: Dating Pools