When should men propose?

An international team has come up with the formula which uses the ‘theory of optimal stopping’ - a sequential decision-making process used in finance and medical trials to pinpoint when to take an action to maximise expected rewards and minimise costs.

“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.

“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.