So you’ve made the decision to have an affair and you’ve gone online, took some time to look at the sites, then dropped some cash for a month or two to see how it goes.

AFF, Plenty of Fish, Ashley Madison, Oh My!

You looked at tons of pictures of the prospects in your area,  and even emailed a few. If you play your cards right you’ll get some responses from a few, trade a few emails then you’re at the trading pictures stage. You’ll be your charming self and soon you’ll get emails or texts with a few pics to pique your interest. They’ll be pretty tame, her out with the girls raising a colorful drink with an umbrella in it, or him at an office party in a business suit looking professionally fine. It won’t take long (trust me on that one) before you’re on to more provocative stuff. You go crazy when she sends you the pics of her topless and/or naked and your juices will flow like it hasn’t in years when you see him in that bathing suit on the beach. Things look good, they’re ripe for the picking, all you have to do is go get them.

And go get it you do.

The Dubious Science of Online Dating

By ELI J. FINKEL AND BENJAMIN R. KARNEY

February 11, 2012

HOW scientific are the “matching algorithms” of online-dating Web sites?

For a fee, many dating sites will collect data about you, crunch the numbers and match you with someone who, as eHarmony puts it, has been “prescreened for deep compatibility with you across 29 dimensions.” Sites like Chemistry, PerfectMatch and GenePartner make similar scientific-sounding claims.

But can a mathematical formula really identify pairs of singles who are especially likely to have a successful romantic relationship?