Mathematicians’ guide to first-date etiquette
Longer courtship is a way for the female to acquire information about the male. By delaying mating, the female is able to reduce the chance she will mate with a bad male. A male’s willingness to court for a long time is a signal that he is likely to be a good male.
Long courtship is a price paid for increasing the chance that mating, if it occurs, will be a harmonious match which benefits both sexes. This may help to explain the commonly held belief that a woman is best advised not to sleep with a man on a first date.
—Professor Robert Seymour, of University College London
The strategic problem a female faces is how to screen out bad males, and this is where long courtship comes into play. A male is assumed to always want to mate with a female, but a good male is more willing to pay the cost of a long courtship to claim the prize of mating.
The female’s strategy is a compromise, a trade-off.
She cannot eliminate this risk completely unless she decides never to mate.
—Dr Peter Sozou, of Warwick Medical School and the LSE Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science
Condensed for your convenience from the Independent.
