Marry Me? But Do These Math Problems First

Thursday, 18 November 2010 | by Pat's Picks

If you’re about to propose or accept a proposal, make sure your spouse-to-be can do some simple math. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says couples who answered a series of simple math questions were far more likely to have more money when they entered middle age than those who didn’t.

In households where couples answered all three questions correctly, family wealth averaged $1.7 million. In households where no correct answers were given, the average was about $200,000. The study also found that even if a man scored a big 0 on the math test he was more likely to have control of the family’s finances, a move that could hurt in the future. 

Here are the 3 simple math questions the Rand Corporation used in the study:

1. If the chance of getting a disease is 10 percent, how many people out of 1,000 would be expected to get the disease?
2. If five people all have the winning numbers in the lottery, and the prize is $2 million, how much will each of them get?
3. Let’s say you have $200 in a savings account. The account earns 10 percent interest per year. How much would you have in the account at the end of two years?

(Read the answers here in the Post-Gazette if you are among the math-challenged)

Read an abstract of the study, which was published in The Economic Journal.

Rand Corporation did the research. Read their press release