Is this survey claim plausible?

  • Context: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter cng99
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Survey
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the plausibility of a survey claim regarding the average number of partners men and women "groom" with in their lifetime. The conversation explores the implications of gender ratios and statistical interpretations of the survey data.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions the validity of the survey claim, suggesting that if men average 7 partners and women average 12, the gender ratio would imply a discrepancy in population sizes.
  • Another participant seeks clarification on whether the discussion pertains to the survey's outcome or the population's adherence to those statistics.
  • There is a suggestion that the argument should consider averages rather than assuming uniform statistics across individuals.
  • Several participants express confusion over the term "grooms with," with interpretations ranging from a casual relationship to a more intimate context.
  • One participant proposes that the terms might refer to median values rather than means, which could resolve some mathematical concerns regarding population sizes.
  • Another participant speculates that variations in grooming behavior could account for the differences in averages, suggesting that some individuals may groom more than others.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the interpretation of the survey data and the implications of gender ratios. There is no consensus on the validity of the claims or the definitions of terms used in the survey.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight potential limitations in the assumptions made about population averages and the definitions of grooming, which remain unresolved in the discussion.

cng99
Messages
44
Reaction score
0
While commenting on the honesty of females, Matt Huston, a so-called 'ex-girlfriend guru', says that in some survey conducted on August 5th 1997, it was found that an average man 'grooms' with 7 different women in his lifetime while an average girl grooms with 12 men.

Considering the gender ratio as 1:1, is this even possible?

Here's why I doubt it:
Assuming all men groom with 7 women. Thus number of grooms is 7 times the number of men.
By the same argument, number of grooms can be 12 times number of women.

Since the number of grooms is fixed, the number of men is 12/7 of the number of women. Which is not true.

I've used the word 'groom' to keep it PG-13.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
cng99 said:
is this even possible?
Does "this" refer to the possibility of a survey having the stated outcome or to the possibility of the entire population obeying the statistics of the survey?

Assuming we are talking about the entire population, to answer this as a graph theory homework problem, you should fix up your argument by dealing with averages instead of assuming all persons have the same statistic.
 
Stephen Tashi said:
Assuming we are talking about the entire population, to answer this as a graph theory homework problem, you should fix up your argument by dealing with averages instead of assuming all persons have the same statistic.

So you mean the total number of grooms is not equal to number of Men times 7?
 
What in the world does "grooms with" mean?
 
Sleeps with I assume unless we are referring to chimps.
 
HallsofIvy said:
What in the world does "grooms with" mean?

They do each other's makeup.
 
If you interpret this to mean that the average number of women that a man "grooms with" is 7 and the average number of men that a woman "grooms with" is 12, then you are correct that there's a mathematical problem, since the populations should be about the same size. However, it's pretty typical that an expression like "the average man" refers to the median, not the mean. So, the description probably means that the median number of women a man "grooms with" is 7, and so on.
 
SteveL27 said:
They do each other's makeup.

I lol'd.

Assuming Gender Ratio 1:1, and assuming they used the Mean for the average:

There are plenty of people who do not "groom". There are also plenty who "groom" too much. If we assume that more women "groom" too much and men are less likely to do so, this is completely possible.

However, Men are... ehem, more well known for "grooming".
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

News How many people actually earn the minimum wage?
  • · Replies 65 ·
3
Replies
65
Views
14K
News ROFLMAO happy new year from bill blum
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
3K
Mathematica This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics (Week 226)
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
4K
Mathematica This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics (Week 226)
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
4K
Mathematica This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics (Week 239)
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K