Does age really matter ?

Lancelot59

Depending on your age...

15 years -5 years...gets a little off.

We should write an age dependant delta function so that the acceptable deviation varies with age as well.

Evo

Right, if you are 50 and date someone 65 is that unreasonable? The older you get, the less age matters.

I would say that age differences really depend on many factors. At age 52 I was guessed to be 30 years old physically. Some people age better than others. Genetics, health, etc... all come into play for physical appearance. As for age difference other than physical looks, does anyone really take mental age into consideration?

As far as physical looks, I don't have facial wrinkles, I don't have "laugh or smile" wrinkles and I don't have "crows feet" around the eyes. Something people can get in their 20's. But I definitely don't look that young either.

Lancelot59

My post was a little unclear. I meant to say that the +-5 years that Skrew posted isn't a good idea for all situations. Then citing the example if a 15 year old at the -5 year tolerance. That's why the tolerance needs to be adjusted over time if you're to make a formula for it.

The age difference you mention seems fine. As we've noted after a certain point the difference starts to matter less.

DaveC426913

If only there were some way ... some way of ... quantifying this concept!

dipole

I've been dating a girl 11 years older than me (which is about 50% older than myself) for over a year now. Age has never once been an issue.

That being said, I'm a lot more mature than most people my age, and she doesn't necessarily act her own age (however people that age are supposed to act, but if I didn't know her real age I'd guess she was in college), and we get on really well together.

It's actually really nice for me, because I don't have a car or much money or my own place (I have two room mates) but she does so we travel lots together and I eat dinner with her often and we always have an apartment to ourselves when we want it.

Long term though I do think it will be a problem, and I think we both understand that even though we have a great time together and are happy now, it won't work in the long run. By the time I'm ready to have kids she'll be in her 40's, and when I'm in my 40's she'll be near menopause.

Hercuflea

+/- 15% of your age

DaveC426913

Wow really?
So a 30 year old should not date a 35 year old?
A 40 year old should not date a 47 year old?
A 50 year old should not date a 58 year old?

No, if there is a formula at all, it's going to be a multiplier plus a constant. That way, it keeps the age diff quite narrow at a young age, but broadens rapidly as the age goes up.

I have not been able to find any exceptions to the 1/2+7 formula.

Jimmy Snyder

My wife was a good age when I married her, but that was a long time ago. We both try to stay young though. It's quite an effort at my age believe you me.

arildno

No one younger than 57 ought to date a centenarian.

Drakkith

There goes my big date night!

Jimmy Snyder

There's my uncle who married at the age of 96 to a woman of 95. That marriage turned out to be a disaster, but the issue was how to raise the children, not because of the age difference, so I don't even know why I even brought that up. Then there's those arranged marriages where the affianced are toddlers. They don't marry till later though so I don't think it counts. There was that billionaire geezer that married the celebrity. That marriage didn't last long and when they read the will it turned out he only had 3 billion, not 4 billion, so she'd probably have been better off staying single. But what was probably on the OP's mind was relativity theory at 107 years old and quantum mechanics at 86. When are these two going to get married?

Illuminerdi

Actually, if the minimum is x = 1/2y + 7, then you could invert it for the maximum, assuming it's coming from the other person's minimum x=2(y-7) and now let's spreadsheet this

age min max
14 14 14
15 14.5 16
16 15 18
17 15.5 20
18 16 22
19 16.5 24
20 17 26
21 17.5 28
22 18 30
23 18.5 32
24 19 34
25 19.5 36
26 20 38
27 20.5 40
28 21 42
29 21.5 44
30 22 46
31 22.5 48
32 23 50
33 23.5 52
34 24 54
35 24.5 56


But, really, the conclusion you SHOULD draw is that no one should give a damn if you're both consenting adults. Do you really think a mathematical formula can tell you anything about relationships? I'm pretty a few high profile mathematicians believed they could do this with "affinities" like used in chemistry, but that's a crazy notion.