Half your age + X rule for dating... Does it really hold, and how well? Opinions?

[Jonluw]

For those of you who have matlab, here's the (surprisingly short) script if you want it.

Spoiler: script

%x = your age, l = age of partner min, u = age of partner max
x = 0.01:0.01:100;
l = x/2+6;
u = (x-6)*2;
ur = (x-7)*2;
lr = x/2+7;
plot(x,u,'-b',x,l,'-b',x,lr,'-r',x,ur,'-r')
set(gca,'XTick',[0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100])
set(gca,'YTick',[0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190])

What is that stuff? Plotting in all that looks extremely tiresome. May I recommend Geogebra [http://www.geogebra.org/cms/en]?

Spoiler: And since this has not been posted yet:

Personally, I think having rules for whom you can date and not is unnecessary. Intuition would be better I say. Take it on a case by case basis.

Unfortunately I have to do matlab for my uni course so I'm stuck with it

Hum. I'd still recommend dowloading Geogebra though. It's a handy tool. Of course, I don't know if it's better than mathlab or not, but it seems like it...
Edit: There's even an in-browser version of it available on the homepage. Just click the first image.

Spoiler: To make the same graph that you did, all I had to do was plot in the functions for the lines, you can see them in the upper left corner:

Note that I'm using the Norwegian version, so the text won't make much sense to you.

 

[Saelune]

This only matters really when you are 25 or under, more so around the under 20 ages where a single year is a larger gap than in your late 20's and older. After that, its fine for age gaps of even up to a decade or so.

 

[ParkourMcGhee]

For those of you who have matlab, here's the (surprisingly short) script if you want it.

Spoiler: script

%x = your age, l = age of partner min, u = age of partner max
x = 0.01:0.01:100;
l = x/2+6;
u = (x-6)*2;
ur = (x-7)*2;
lr = x/2+7;
plot(x,u,'-b',x,l,'-b',x,lr,'-r',x,ur,'-r')
set(gca,'XTick',[0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100])
set(gca,'YTick',[0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190])

Why didn't you use 0:5:100 and 0:5:190 within the two set() commands?

(Yes, my only comment in this thread is on a matter of programming style).

Edit: also, since these are all linear plots, why do you have ~ 10,000 x points? You only need two...

Because then you wouldn't get a smooth line in case it curved (which was what I initially thought without actually looking at the problem), but yes, you can plot this with just 0:100:100

For those of you who have matlab, here's the (surprisingly short) script if you want it.

Spoiler: script

%x = your age, l = age of partner min, u = age of partner max
x = 0.01:0.01:100;
l = x/2+6;
u = (x-6)*2;
ur = (x-7)*2;
lr = x/2+7;
plot(x,u,'-b',x,l,'-b',x,lr,'-r',x,ur,'-r')
set(gca,'XTick',[0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100])
set(gca,'YTick',[0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190])

What is that stuff? Plotting in all that looks extremely tiresome. May I recommend Geogebra [http://www.geogebra.org/cms/en]?

Spoiler: And since this has not been posted yet:

Personally, I think having rules for whom you can date and not is unnecessary. Intuition would be better I say. Take it on a case by case basis.

Unfortunately I have to do matlab for my uni course so I'm stuck with it

Hum. I'd still recommend dowloading Geogebra though. It's a handy tool. Of course, I don't know if it's better than mathlab or not, but it seems like it...
Edit: There's even an in-browser version of it available on the homepage. Just click the first image.

Spoiler: To make the same graph that you did, all I had to do was plot in the functions for the lines, you can see them in the upper left corner:

Note that I'm using the Norwegian version, so the text won't make much sense to you.

Does it do inverse laplace transforms, and transfer functions... because that's what we need for signal processing, and matlab lays it out fairly easily for what it is.

I'd have personally been far more productive during my teenage years being devoid of sexual urges. Luckily, I managed to restrain them - although at the profound cost in efficiency that this indicates.

"Beep boop, I have reprogrammed myself to ignore my sexual urges for I am a robot, beep." Seriously, I can see the advantage of keeping to our studies as best we can, but one of the other posters has a point; you had the same urges as everyone else, and you're tone with this argument seems to shout 'Repression issues!', with a megaphone cranked up to eleven (actually, I've never seen one; are there megaphones with volume settings?). With the exception of those born completely without sexual urges, going your entire adolescence- a time where mistakes are tolerated the most and learned from the quickest- ignoring said urges is going to cause more problems for you emotionally than the extra time spent studying could ever hope to make up for socially or academically. If this was entirely your choice at the time, and I seriously doubt it was, then you simply made one of the worst mistakes a teenager could. If it was thrust upon you by your parents' ideals (or anyone close to you, really), then I simply feel sorry for you.

Regardless of your opinion's origin, don't try to thrust your close-minded opinion down as though it were the word of God. Have a more open mind to the benefits of having a close physical and emotional relationship when you're younger. Looking at any and all of your ideas with a healthy amount of unbiased skepticism can help you so much more than wallowing in your ideas ever could, believe you me.

I can confirm that there are in fact megaphones with a volume setting!


FINALLY:

As for the conclusion: There seem to be people saying things both ways, and there really is no way to confirm this without an experimental questionnaire sent to plenty of people.

Even so the lower ages are going to be disputed over and over again.

The "rules" are only a guideline, but people mature on the inside seem to be able to draw a happy conclusion no matter the difference.

Thank you for responding everyone . I shall rest easier knowing what I've accomplished over the course of these last couple of days actually meant something to me, but that in the end it's the feeling you have rather than others that should make the crucial difference. Especially if you feel sure about what you're doing .

See y'all in other threads, peace out.

 

[Jonluw]

For those of you who have matlab, here's the (surprisingly short) script if you want it.

Spoiler: script

%x = your age, l = age of partner min, u = age of partner max
x = 0.01:0.01:100;
l = x/2+6;
u = (x-6)*2;
ur = (x-7)*2;
lr = x/2+7;
plot(x,u,'-b',x,l,'-b',x,lr,'-r',x,ur,'-r')
set(gca,'XTick',[0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100])
set(gca,'YTick',[0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190])

What is that stuff? Plotting in all that looks extremely tiresome. May I recommend Geogebra [http://www.geogebra.org/cms/en]?

Spoiler: And since this has not been posted yet:

Personally, I think having rules for whom you can date and not is unnecessary. Intuition would be better I say. Take it on a case by case basis.

Unfortunately I have to do matlab for my uni course so I'm stuck with it

Hum. I'd still recommend dowloading Geogebra though. It's a handy tool. Of course, I don't know if it's better than mathlab or not, but it seems like it...
Edit: There's even an in-browser version of it available on the homepage. Just click the first image.

Spoiler: To make the same graph that you did, all I had to do was plot in the functions for the lines, you can see them in the upper left corner:

Note that I'm using the Norwegian version, so the text won't make much sense to you.

Does it do inverse laplace transforms, and transfer functions... because that's what we need for signal processing, and matlab lays it out fairly easily for what it is.

I... have no idea what those things are.
I do get results when I google "Geogebra laplace" and similar though, so I imagine it would.

 

[darthotaku]

love cannot be constrained to mathematic formula's.

It can however be stopped by both the legal system and angry fathers with shotguns.

 

[northeast rower]

The idea that 12- or 14-year-olds should be dating is in itself repugnant enough to invalidate the rule. Anybody dating under 18 in today's society should be ashamed.

I am 16, 17 in a few days.

I am dating.

I am unashamed.

 

[LikeDustInTheWind]

We're no longer living in the Middle Ages. Instead of lifespans usually cut short in the region of one's forties, we live in an era where the average lifespan has shot up to the seventies or eighties. There is no longer an excuse for early carnal knowledge in a society where people live that long.

Carnal knowledge? It's not like twelve year olds are out having sex (well, most of them aren't). They're just dating, there's nothing to be ashamed of and it doesn't seem to cause problems.

Edit: From reading some of your other posts you sound amazingly like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. Just Saying.

 

[Chamale]

I've always heard it's half your age plus 6 to date, half your age plus 7 to have sex. Which works because 18 and 15 might work for dating, but it's pretty creepy (and often illegal) if they have sex with that age gap. It's not illegal to a 40-year-old to have sex with a 24-year-old, but the rule is quite clear that the age gap makes it slightly creepy.

Fuck Captcha for rejecting this post.

 

[Brandon237]

The idea that 12- or 14-year-olds should be dating is in itself repugnant enough to invalidate the rule. Anybody dating under 18 in today's society should be ashamed.

I'm 16 in less than a week and very offended.
I understand 12, but really, only 18 and up? I'm afraid that makes no sense to me. Even if it did, I would be breaking my own sense of... sense anyway.

OP: That graph... makes... no sense to me. A fifteen year old can *ONLY* date a 15 year old. A $5 year old and a 70 year old is going to... last??? I don't think so. And that is a little bit gross.

 

[crazyfoxdemon]

I don't really care about that formula to be honest. As long as you're not being a pedophile, you're only as young as you feel. I know some 50ish year old men that are more youthful and energetic then some 20somethings I know.