In her TEDxSydney talk, Clio Cresswell explores the fascinating intersection of mathematics and romance, humorously suggesting that understanding certain mathematical principles can improve one’s love life. She begins by introducing groundbreaking equations that predict the success of marriages with 95% accuracy by analyzing newlyweds’ interactions and responses to contentious topics. Surprisingly, these equations reveal that couples who compromise less tend to have more successful marriages, challenging conventional wisdom that empathy is the key to relationship longevity.Cresswell emphasizes that mathematics, traditionally associated with fields like physics and engineering, has expanded into softer sciences such as psychology and sociology. She illustrates this with various modern mathematical applications, from optimizing antibiotic use to analyzing opinion spread within populations. Even seemingly trivial pursuits, like creating the perfect chocolate, involve sophisticated mathematical modeling.A significant part of her talk highlights the discrepancies in reported sexual partners between men and women, attributed to different counting strategies: men tend to approximate, often rounding to multiples of five, while women enumerate. Cresswell also touches on biological rhythms, such as hormonal cycles, and how these can be modeled mathematically.Ultimately, Cresswell’s talk underscores the power of abstract thinking and pattern recognition, core aspects of mathematics, which have deep evolutionary roots and are fundamental to human cognition. She concludes by asserting that mathematics, much like sex, transcends cultural boundaries and is intrinsic to the human experience, making it an inherently sexy subject.
