The Beauty Exchange to Age Ratio (BEAR) Calculator

Whether you believe it to be the cause of the "Shidduch Crisis" (cue dramatic music), a tragedy, or merely the way things are, the age gap between spouses is a matter of much discussion.  It would appear, like it or not, that men like younger women.  And, interestingly enough, but not surprisingly, women like older men.  A professor at the University of Wales recently described a "consistent cross-cultural preference by women for at least same-age or significantly older men."

This leads to tremendous confusion on the part of shadchanim who don't understand why it is that guys will sometimes accept suggestions with girls who are older than their desired age range, and why sometimes they won't.

While interviewing hundreds (if not, tens or ones) of young, single men of marriageable age, I have identified the answer to this conundrum as being an interesting willingness on the part of men to exchange remaining child-bearing years in their spouse for greater attractiveness. After locking myself away in my laboratory for several nights, I have boiled it down to a simple mathematical relationship.  I am now offering this, at no charge, for the use of shadchanim the world over in the hopes that it will help them to suggest more fitting shidduchim, and lead in turn to more successful shidduchim, more batei ne'eman bi'yisroel and eventually moshiach.

The Beauty Exchange to Age Ratio (BEAR)

(I have included the equation itself at the bottom of the page for the mathematically interested.)

Description	Data Entry
Ideal Age
Girl’s Age
Minimum Looks
Girl Must Be At Least a	Calculated

Notes: (1) If the number arrived at is over 10, it just ain't happening.  (2) Shadchanim should be certain to use the DOG Score to arrive at accurate values for rating looks.

In simple English, the BEAR equation states that for every additional point of attraction above his baseline, a man is willing to date a girl 2 years older.

To quickly define the terms used:
Maximum Age: The maximum age a young man is willing to date.
Ideal Age: The ideal age that a young man wants in a prospective spouse.
Looks: On a scale of 1-10
Minimum Looks: The minimum look rating (on a scale of 1-10) that a man is willing to accept in a prospective spouse.

So, to give an example:  Let's say Shloimy is ideally looking for a girl who is 22 years old, and he only dates girls whom he thinks are 6 and above on the looks scale.  This means that he'll date a 22 year old who is a 6, but if a girl is suggested to him who is 25, she'll need to be a 7.5 in order to be of interest.  He'll even date a girl who is 28, but she'll need to be ((28-22)/2 + 6=) a "9".

I think that if Shadchanim employ this incredibly simple mathematical relationship (iPhone app coming soon) before making suggestions, they'll save everyone a lot of wasted time.  Now, when a shadchan wants to set a girl up with a guy, she just needs to quickly enter the desired age that the young man told her he was looking for, the girl's age, the minimum acceptable rating in terms of looks that the guy will go out with, and voila! she will quickly learn whether or not the girl she has in mind is a realistic suggestion according to the BEAR Equation.

MA=IA+2(L-ML)

Rearranged: ((MA-IA)/2)+ML=L