Can You Use Math to Find Love?

Back in the 90′s my wife and I did a little investigating and learned all we could about the crad game, Blackjack. We loved going to Vegas and playing the game, yet didn’t have any strategy. We’d have fun, but would inevitably lose our money. So, we began to study and practice basic Blackjack strategy. There were a few variations, but we worked out the kinks and really learned how to play the game. With that we also discovered that money management was an integral part of play, so that when we did lose, we could recoup said losses and get ahead again. 

For six months we played mock casino hands at home and recorded the data. After 300-plus hands, and looking at the data, we felt we were ready to hit the strip and try our hand at, well, some hands.We started with $200 and played sets of Blackjack, meaning I would play until I lost a certain amount or won a certain amaount. Then, she would do the same. We were in Vegas for two nights, had played a total of ten sets and never lost. We went back home turining our $200 into $750, and at that point we realized we had broken the code. We were going to quit our jobs and become professional gamblers. 

Never, in the next twenty years, had we ever expereinced that level of success at the tables. We’ve never won ten consecutive sets. Sometimes we come out a little ahead. Sometimes we lose. We thought we had created the perfect system to “beat the house,” but we were mistaken. 

Journalist Amy Webb did something similar in her quest for finding Mr. Right. She used data and algorithms to try and find one of thirty-five men in Philadelphia that would fit her relationship requirements. She told her story on this TED Talk

©iStockphoto.comDeanMitchell

. I don’t want to ruin the end for you, but I do think that the “take away” is perfect.