This equations was spawned  from an article on NPR's website authored by Robert Krulwhich.

This equation tells you how to choose from of a list of N candidate partners your likely most satisfactory partner.

The input is the number of candidate partners you are willing to date.

Notes

Basically, you enter the number of candidates you are willing to date.  The equation will tell you how many people of that number you must date first.  You must not choose any of the number specified by the equation.  You must date that number of people.

After you have dated the number of people specified by the equation, you should marry the next one in dating sequence that you judge exceeds in all your desired qualities the best you have already dated.

This is Johannes Kepler's method for choosing the best candidate while maximizing the likelihood of satisfaction.