Question

In a certain online dating service, participants are given a 4-statement survey to determine their compatibility with other participants. Based on the questionnaire, each participant is notified if they are compatible with another participant. Each question is multiple choice with the possible responses of "Agree" or "Disagree," and these are assigned the numbers 1 or −1, respectively. Participant’s responses to the survey are encoded as a vector in R4, where coordinates correspond to their answers to each question. Here are the questions:

Answer 1

The question is incomplete. Here is the complete question.

In a certain online dating service, participants are given a 4-statement survey to determine their compatibility with other participants. Based on the questionnaire, each particpant is notified if they are compatible with another participant. Each question is multiple choice with the possible responses of "Agree" or "Disagree", and these are assigned the numbers 1 or -1, respectively. pArticipnat's responses to the survey are encoded as a vector in R4, where coordinates coreespond to their answers to each question. Here are the questions:

Question #1: I prefer outdoor activities, rather than indoor activities.

Question #2: I prefer going out to eat in restaurants, rahter than cooking at home.

Question #3: I prefer texting, rather than talking on the phone.

Question #4: I prefer living in a small town, rather than in a big city.

Here are the results for the questionaire, with a group of 5 participants:

Question1 Question2 Question3 Question4

participant A 1 1 -1 -1

participant B -1 1 1 1

participant C -1 -1 1 1

participant D 1 -1 -1 -1

participant E 1 -1 1 1

Two participants are considered to be "compatible" with each other if the angle between their compatibility vectors is 60° or less. Participants are considered to be "incompatible" if the angle between their compatibility vectors is 120° or larger. For angles between 60° or 120°, pairs of participants are warned that they "may or may not be compatible".

(a) Which pairs of paricipants are compatible?

(b) Which pairs of participants are incompatible?

(c) How would this method of testing compatibility change if the questionnaire also allowed the answer "Neutral", which would correspond to the number zero in a participant's vector? Would this be better than only

allowing "Agree" or "Disagree"? Could anything go wrong if we allowed "Neutral" as an answer?

Answer: (a) Participants A and D; B and C; C and E.

(b) Participants A and B; A and C; A and E; B and D; C and D;

Explanation: Vectors in R4 are vectors in a 4 dimensional space and are determined by 4 numbers.

Vectors form angles between themselves and can be found by the following formula:

cos α =
`(A.B)/(||A||.||B||)`

which means that the cosine of the angle between two vectors is equal the dot product of these vectors divided by the product of their magnitude.

For the compatibility test, find the angle between vectors:

1) The vectors magnitude:

Magnitude of a vector is given by:

||x|| =
`\sqrt{x_(i)^(2) + x_(j)^(2)}`

Since all the vectors have value 1, they have the same magnitude:

||A|| =
`\sqrt{1^(2) + 1^(2) + (-1)^(2) + (-1)^(2)}` = 2

||A|| = ||B|| = ||C|| = ||D|| = ||E|| = 2

2) The dot product of vectors:

A·B = 1(-1) + 1(1) + (-1)1 + (-1)1 = -2

cos
`\alpha_(1)` =
`(-2)/(4)` =
`(-1)/(2)`

The angle that has cosine equal -1/2 is 120°, so incompatible

A·C = 1(-1) + 1(-1) + (-1)1 + (-1)1 = -4

cos
`\alpha _(2)` = -1

Angle = 180° --------> incompatible

A·D = 1(1) + 1(-1) + (-1)(-1) + (-1)(-1) = 2

cos
`\alpha _(3)` = 1/2

Angle = 60° ---------> COMPATIBLE

A·E = 1.1 + 1(-1) + (-1)1 + (-1)1 = -2

cos
`\alpha_(4)` = -1/2

Angle = 120° --------> incompatible

B·C = (-1)(-1) + 1(-1) + 1.1 + 1.1 = 2

cos
`\alpha _(5)` = 1/2

Angle = 60° -------------> COMPATIBLE

B·D = (-1)1 + 1(-1) + 1(-1) + 1(-1) = -4

cos
`\alpha_(6)` = -1

Angle = 180° -----------> incompatible

B·E = (-1)1 + 1(-1) + 1.1 + 1.1 = 0

cos
`\alpha _(7)` = 0

Angle = 90° -------------> may or may not

C·D = (-1)1 + (-1)(-1) + 1(-1) + 1(-1) = -2

cos
`\alpha_(8) =` -1/2

Angle = 120° ---------------> Incompatible

C·E = (-1)1 + (-1)(-1) + 1.1 + 1.1 = 2

cos
`\alpha_(9)` = 1/2

Angle = 60° ---------------> COMPATIBLE

D·E = 1.1 + (-1)(-1) + (-1)1 + (-1)1 = 0

cos
`\alpha_(10)` = 0

Angle = 90° -----------------> may or may not

(c) Adding zero (0) as a component of the vectors would have to change the method of compatibility because, to determine the angle, it is necessary to calculate the magnitude of a vector and if it is a zero vector, the magnitude is zero and there is no division by zero. So, unless the service change the method, adding zero is not a good option.