ST. LOUIS — When Rashied Amini’s girlfriend wanted to break up two years ago, he wondered if he could mathematically prove that they should stay together.
Amini was working as a systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the time. He knew how to build predictive models about space missions using algorithms.
Maybe he could apply the same approach to matters of the heart.
He returned to his alma mater to pursue a doctorate in astrophysics at Washington University, while also developing a romance predictor.
On Friday, he launched Nanaya.co, an online site that can predict the user’s chances of finding an ideal match, where it’s most likely to happen, when you should settle down and how happy you’re likely to be in the relationship. There’s also a section on how to change your current behavior, such as where and with whom you socialize, to increase your odds of meeting your ideal match. The site is currently free.
“As a theorist whose job it is to come up with models that represent reality that you can make decisions from, I thought I could do this,” he said. The idea of making personal decisions based on information and science has been around for a while. But because romance is so subjective it can be the hardest problem to solve simply based on data.
On the site, users begin by taking a romantic personality test. Then, there are questions about lifestyle preferences, values, future goals and one’s experiences being single. It also takes into account your deal-breakers in a future partner.
It’s different from the plethora of dating or matchmaking websites; some of which also use algorithms to match users with likely partners. Nanaya’s predictions are based on the user’s responses in relation to all the other data collected from the rest of the users in its database. Currently, about 22,000 people have taken the personality test, which enabled him to design the beta.
Before Amini adds the “stay together or break up” feature in the reports, he wants to reach at least 100,000 users to make the results more reliable. The site is aimed at people in their 20s and 30s who are wondering whether to stay in a relationship or continue to play the field.
Roman Solowski, 33, filled out an early version of Amini’s questionnaire to help out his buddy from college. At the time, Solowski had been dating his girlfriend for nearly a year and a half. His results indicated that until age 35 he would be happiest in a relationship with her, but after that age he would be happier single.
“How are you supposed to interpret that?” he said.
Solowski proposed anyway. So far, he says things are going well.
“Maybe you should ask me two years from now,” he said. Solowski, an attorney in Chicago, never shared the results with his wife.
“I don’t want to cause any trouble,” he said. “I don’t think anyone is going to take it very well.”
Amini said Solowski’s results do not predict that he and his wife will break up eventually. The analysis suggests that there were favorable odds that Solowski could have met a better match years down the line.
“The main feedback is merely to consider it. Not because it’s the truth, but just food for thought,” Amini said. “I like to think this a vehicle for self-awareness more than anything else.”
Bill Wing, co-founder of the Relationship Center of St. Louis, says most people get “a little itchy” around age 35. It may be a good time for anyone to work on their relationships, he said. Wing sees value in using Amini’s tool as one part of a decision-making process.
“I think it’s an excellent idea” when considering a potential life partner, Wing said. “So many times we stay with people because they are familiar.”
“You don’t want to settle because you are fearful or worried about whether there is anyone else out there,” he added. Wing, who has counseled hundreds of couples over a career spanning more than 35 years, cautioned that regardless of whom a person marries, two-thirds of differences that arise will be perpetual and unresolvable. The couple’s long-term success lies in how they deal with those differences.
“I’m not sure if there’s an algorithm for that,” he said.
As far as Amini’s relationship that inspired the site, it ended regardless of what the math advised.
Amini, 30, plans to defend his dissertation this summer and rejoin the engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While working more than 100 hours a week on this site and his doctorate, he didn’t have time for dating. But his own Nanaya analysis says he should settle down between 31 to 32 years old.
So, he will be back on market soon enough looking for the stars to align.
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