The “One” Probability Calculator: She’s Approximately 1 in 4,867.

Pick some place you like, some place you’re likely to see women with potential - coffee shop, local pub… whatever. Sit for a good hour and count how many women go by you’d like to see naked.

Now for the fun part, Math!

I came up with 13 (and it was a slow day). If in one hour 13 viable partners crossed my line of sight that means we can assume in any given day (counting only standard business hours) there should be approximately 104 women I would love to… whatever. This means that without even leaving Bridgehead (it’s a local coffee shop, think “Starbucks” run by Hipsters) I could foreseeably ask out over 100 women a day. I’m not recommending you try this, simply doing the math.

13 x 8 = 104. Simple.

Now, if I take all similar establishments in the city I live we get roughly 34 upscale coffee shops (in the trendy parts of town). That’s to say that at any given daytime hour the sum total of attractive women meandering through those 34 coffee shops is approximately 442. Still think there’s only one for you…

104 x 34 = 442 Coffee-Sipping Possibilities.

Now let’s go a little more abstract. I live in a city of roughly one million people. The current estimation of Male to Female ratio in Canada is 100 women for every 98 men. This means that approximately 505,050 women live in my city. Don’t worry, I’ve shown my work below.

1,000,000 ÷ 198 = 5,050.

5,050 x 100 = 505,050 Women

5,050 x 98 = 494,900 Men

I use the tried and true age dating formula of half my age plus 7, which brings us to a dateable range of 25 – 35 years old. If you’re playing along at home you can use any dateable range you like, just try not to be too “icky” about it.

My age (35) ÷ 2 = 17.5

17.5 + 7 = 24.5 (but I’ll round up to 25, seems unreasonable to ask girls how many months until their next birthday).

According to the most recent studies I can find the average lifespan of a Canadian woman is 83 years. Since I’ve allowed myself a 10-year dateable range we can assume that there are 60,840 women living in my city that fall into my technical dateable range.

505,050 ÷ 83 = 6,084.

Note: This number is an assumption that each year-age has an equal number of women alive. With this assumption there are approximately 6,084 women at each year-age of life. This is simplifying for the ease of the reader, as the number would decrease each year-age approaching 83 (and I’m way too lazy to plot the curve).

25 – 35 years of age is a 10-year span.

10 years x 6,084 = 60,840.

Let’s be fussy and say that only 8% of these women meet my requirements (i.e. not married, not fatties), that’s still an awe inspiring 4,867 ladies I would happily buy dinner for (and then fornicate with). Suddenly my city doesn’t feel so small, or my prospects so bleak.

60,840 x 0.08 = 4,867.

One thing you might be saying is “What about girls who aren’t single?” A valid point but let’s try to remember that we are as available as our options allow us to be.

A month ago I would have thought mine was out of the pool (after all, I did put a ring on it) but single is always just a “we need to talk” away. Love is a pendulum that swings both ways; it can carry your girl away from you, or bring someone else’s girl right to you. Never send to know for whom the pendulum swings…

The point of this is not to make you target women like a hungry dog, but just to remind you that for every guy who’s reading this there’s someone out there who would love to get to know you (or rather 98 men for every 100 women).

The fact is there is no “one” for you. We meet people, we are attracted to some, compatible with others, and if we keep trying we find at least one that fits into both categories. You may like the idea that there is a perfect “one” for you just waiting for the right moment but this isn’t just unlikely, it’s mathematically impossible. I’d rather believe that people who have the strength to get knocked down and keep going earn Love, not that it’s some fatalistic gift from unseen forces. No one gets handed the thing they want most.

With 7 billion assholes on this floating rock it seems very unlikely that there is only “one” for you, no matter how weird you are. Your next relationship won’t be the same but that’s not a bad thing. I guarantee there were parts of your relationship that weren’t perfect. That’s why you’re here.

The good news is you have options… numbers don’t lie.

I am The Salesman