July 2001 A Mathematical Model of the Mating Preferences of H. SapiensBy E STRONG, M CHAMON, and C SANCHEZ
We have applied these concepts to create a model based upon the current state of societal dynamics between unmated members of sub-type americanus. We will first consider the case of a male searching for a female mate. We conjecture that female desirability is based upon 3 categories which we represent with  ,
 , and  . These variables
are numerical measures of how a female rates within the 3 categories. The scale is a measure of the female's ability to interact in daily
social situations (i.e. does she nag/whine, is she friendly towards the male's male companions). The
scale is used to guage the potential mate's intelligence, concentrating largely
on the ability to participate in discussion of athletic competition. The scale
is a measure of the female's physical appearance, based on such factors as body mass index and breast diameter and
fullness. Based on our personal observation of sub-class
americanus, we believe the typical male to place roughly equal weight on these three factors. Thus, we will refer to
the product of , , and as the female desirability factor. In regards to the female ideal, although not all males share the same ideal, the overall expectations of a female mate are universal. Thus, whereas ideal, ideal,
and ideal are not constants within the population, the product of these three values are.
We have assigned  to represent this ideal, and refer to this value as the Sanchez constant. By
definition, the observed female desirability factor must always be less than . This is the Sanchez inequality. It was our
expectation that a sampling of a population of H. sapiens females would reveal a Guassian distribution of the
female desirability factor centered on the
value  /2. However, our studies found the results to be skewed such that
the median desirability factor actually lies
below the mean. Both the origin and implication of this unusual skew is currently unclear.
An interesting value is obtained when one subtracts the desirability factor from the Sanchez constant - a value we refer to as  , or the Chamon residual. We have found that the ratio of the Chamon residual to the Sanchez constant is
approximately equal to the probability that the female in question in currently unmated. We now consider the case of a female searching for a male mate. As with the previous case, male desirability is based upon categories - 2 this time,  and  .
represents the wealth of the male prospect as judged by his dress, mode of
transportation, and means of living. represents how physically in shape the
male is, as based upon appearance (biceps size, presence or absence of hypertrophy of the abdominal wall musculature).
Also, as with the previous case, females have a theoretical ideal male mate, represented here with
 . By definition, (
) < . Finally, we have extrapolated these equations to provide a view of intersexual dynamics. If the probability of a random female mating with a random male following a chance encounter is denoted by  , the
following equation holds true for all possible domains of previous stated variables:  is a modulating factor to account for the blood alcohol level of the two
individuals in question. It has a theoretical range from 0 to 1.Although we feel the above model is an accurate representation of H. sapiens mating preferences on a basic level, addition observation is necessary before further refinement is possible. Our model also fails to take into account varying degrees of homosexual tendancies among the individuals of the population. We hope to include this factor in subsequent models. | ||||
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he
mammal H. sapiens sub-type americanus serves as an excellent subject species on which to base a mathematical model of
mating preferences among the behaviorally complex animals. Although numerous changes in mating practices have occurred
through H. sapiens' 50,000 year history, several key aspects have remained constant. First, all members of the species
have a particular set of criteria which they unconsciously use to rank potential mates. For females, these critieria
center around the ability of the male to provide for future offspring. For males, these criteria involve the ability
of the female to physically stimulate, as well as the ability to raise the male's status in the population. The
second key aspect is that a theoretical ideal mate exists for both males and females. Third, the desirability of
a potential mate is directly based upon how closely he or she approaches the theoretical ideal.
