The Love Theorem

Rather than trusting your instincts, or following your vulnerable heart, it's probably best to leave love to science. According to Chris Coyne and Christian Rudder, two of the co-founders of the free dating site OkCupid, compatibility can be reduced to pure mathematics.

Rudder and Coyne, who first met in Harvard's math department, created a system so intricate and complicated they dubbed it an "UberAlgorithm." Essentially, OkCupid members take tests and their answers are tracked, analyzed, and compared to those of other users in order to develop compatibility percentages. Members can then view their potential matches and begin courting them with messages and digital winks. Test questions (which are developed by staff and users, and many by Coyne and Rudder themselves) run the gamut from the mundane to the perverse; results can tell your dating persona or which infamous serial killer you most closely resemble. (I was "the boy next door" and Ed Gein.)