A formula ‘which suggests when men should propose’

According to them,the probability formula suggests that men should propose marriage mostly as a joke,but it may actually work — in fact,it would give a 37 per cent chance of finding the best partner from a pool of marriage prospects.

“Probability isn’t the most romantic basis for a marriage but while the formula won’t fit everyone it does seem to fit a lot of couples,whether through accident or design.

“The Marriage Problem is well known to mathematicians: basically comes down to working out how long you’re prepared to wait to marry and how many marriage prospects you’re likely to meet during that time.

“Our formula tells you optimal age at which to propose and have the highest probability of achieving your goal.

“One could argue that the current,less-structured approach to picking a marriage partner hasn’t been 100 per cent successful,so perhaps it’s time for men to consider following a stricter set of rules when it comes to marriage.

“As well as meeting the right girl,they could also find themselves developing a new love for numbers — a win-win for everyone,” team member Professor Anthony Dooley of the University of New South Wales said.

Team leader Professor Bruce Brown wrote the formula as an offshoot of more serious research and has calculated that it gives men a 37 per cent success rate of finding the best partner from a pool of marriage prospects — not bad odds given the divorce rate is predicted to rise as high as 50 per cent for current brides and grooms.

“Maths helps us understand the world and how seemingly arbitrary actions actually add up into patterns — from relationships right through to robotics,” Prof Dooley said.