The science of soul mates: following the formula to love

If the definition of the algorithm is leaving you with more questions than answers, don't worry. Basically, all an algorithm is is a formula comprised of a bunch of different factors that work together to produce a result. Think of an algorithm as a recipe for cake: you have a bunch of different ingredients that mix together to make a cake.  In the world of online dating, the cake ingredients you want could relate to a potential partners age, their location, their race, their religious preferences, their interests, and on and on and on. The cake is who you decide to match yourself with or who the online dating service matches you with depending on your list of ingredients.

Online dating expert and assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunication Information Studies and Media at Michigan State University Andrew Fiore said there are two basic ways algorithms are used to discover potential dates. The first is when an online dater searches a database, similar to how you would do a query search in a library database, and provides you with potential matches that meet your specific criteria. It is then up to you to contact dates based on your preferred criteria.

The second system is when the host site takes profile information and actually matches you with someone based on their "secret sauce" recipe, or algorithm. Fiore said, "sites like eHarmony tend to get into more complicated types of matching." Fiore guessed "they use a bunch of psychometric scales, to look at different personality traits and relationship styles," and then they "sort of throw all those into a big compatibility formula, called a dimensionality reduction technique, and distill it down to a few dimensions that they can then match people on."

Fiore can only guess on the specifics because not a single online dating service has ever made its matching algorithms available to the public. Norton equated the online dating industry's secrecy to another client-based industry we all know well: soft drinks. "My guess is that [algorithms] will likely not become more public in the same way that Coke and Pepsi don't release the secret recipes for what makes their products great because  then maybe people could innovate on it and  make an even cooler soda but then Coke and Pepsi may not be doing so well after that."

So if we don't know what the matching algorithms actually are, how do we know if they work? 

"That is a legitimate concern," said Ian Ayers, a lawyer, economist and author of the New York Times best-selling book "Super Crunchers." However, Ayres said "it's becoming a smaller concern because the dating sites are starting to compete on analytics."

Fiore said a healthy skepticism is appropriate, adding "It's not that they [algorithms] definitely don't work, or they definitely do work, we just don't know if they work."  Most experts say the same. Algorithms have a purpose in the online dating game, but they also have limitations.

The question remains...is there a scientific formula that will find your perfect match? No... but that does not mean they are useless in your quest for love. In an industry that is slightly more than a decade old, there is room for improvement. Norton maintains there is an element of randomness that will always happen when people pair off that science simply can't predict. But he also says the algorithms "can get closer and closer."

So if you are an online dater,  accept the promises of your preferred provider with a grain of salt, but keep the words of  Ian Ayers in the back of your mind when you get discouraged:"Even in affairs of the heart, as in so many other fields, scoring predictions just do better."