[net.misc] Horses vs. Currant Buns: a query

flinn@seismo.UUCP (E. A. Flinn) (03/16/84)

---
	Suppose you call the people 'horses' who have faces more long
(vertically) than round, and 'currant buns' the people whose faces are
more round than long.  Practically everyone fits into one of those two
categories.  

	Question:  why is that the majority of couples one sees are
made up of one horse and one currant bun, rather than two of either
type?

spoo@utcsrgv.UUCP (Suk Lee) (03/18/84)

If you had two currant buns, their 
faces might stick together when they
kissed....
-- 

From the pooped paws of:
Suk Lee
..!{decvax,linus,allegra,ihnp4}!utcsrgv!spoo

mam@charm.UUCP (Matthew Marcus) (03/19/84)

Seismo!flinn divides people into two classification, which I will call H and C,
for reasons clear in the basenote.  He then asks why most married couples comprise
an H and a C, rather than two H's or two C's.  Since he posted this to net.misc,
I assume he thinks there is some non-statistical reason for this.  I will show
that his observation can be explained by random association given certain
simple assumptions:

	Let x be the probability that a man is in class C.  Let y be the probability
of a woman being a C.  Now we make a table:

Couple		probability
Both C		xy
Both H		(1-x)(1-y)
M=C,W=H		x(1-y)
M=H,W=C		y(1-x)

Then, let D=Pr(M<>W)-Pr(M=W), where M,W refer to male, female members of
a couple, relational operators refer to membership in the C or H classes,
and Pr(c) is the probability of condition c being true. Seismo!flinn's
observation is that D>0.  Now, with the above table, we find that
D=2x+2y-4xy-1
Substitute x=(w+1)/2, y=(z+1)/2, and get
D = -wz  .
which shows that if x-1/2 and y-1/2 are of different signs, then flinn's
observation follows.  There is an assumption here that there is no correlation
between one's own type and the type you will get married to. The final result is:

If {seismo!flinn's observation}
  THEN	{
	If {random chance applies to marriages viz. H, C classes}
	   THEN	{
		one sex shows an excess of C and the other an excess of H
		}
	   ELSE {
		C-type men prefer H-type women, or vice-versa
		}
	}
  ELSE	{
	Much time has been wasted
	}


		{BTL}!charm!mam  "why isn't this in net.math?"

kalm@ihuxw.UUCP (James ) (03/20/84)

After people live together for a number of years,
(I understand that THAT still actually happens) they
begin to look more and more like each other.
You might have observed this.
This may be because they tend to eat the same foods,
do the same things, etc.
My questions is:

As they begin to change over the years, what determines
whether the horsefacer will change to look more like the 
bunfacer or vice versa?
-- 
Jim Kalmadge
IX 1c415
8-367-0475
ihuxw!kalm