How will you predict how many female psychology majors with long hair are going to be at the library between six pm and seven pm in the reference section reading a journal article by a male author?

Answer 1

Well, first you have to specify. Is the female psychology major blonde, or brunette? Blondes, for instance, are less likely to be psychology majors- not due to the common misconception "Dumb Blonde", just by coincidence. Short-haired psychology majors are typically very social and outgoing- studies show that people with short hair (that choose to cut it that way; as a grown woman would) tend to have behavioral habits like that. People with long hair (again, if they chose their hairstyle) tend to be more contained, quiet, and mysterious. So, a long-haired psychology major would most likely be alone. If they were to get off work at about 6:00 PM and head to the library (6:00 being an average time to get off work) they might be alone. And, because psychology majors typically have a lot of access to books elsewhere, they are not usually found in libraries. So, I'd say about 1, maybe 2 female psychology majors with long hair would be at the library between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM.

Whether or not they were reading a journal article by a male- you would first have to know the ratio of books to journal articles; and the ratio of male to female authors within the journal articles. Well what this really is, is an exercise in applying the drake equation. The nice little equation that has been used to predict the likelihood of intelligent life existing inside the known solar system from some ballpark estimates of factors contributing to formation of life, like how many stars have planet systems, how many of those systems have an earth-like planet, etc. The answer to the question of Extraterrestrial Life turns out to be fairly disappointing, ballpark being something very low. To find out how many "female psychology majors with long hair are going to be at the library between six pm and seven pm in the reference section reading a journal article by a male author", you must categorize each defining characteristic as a ratio to the alternative. Example; 85% of psychology majors are females, there are many ways to categorize each part of the question but the trick is getting the right numbers.

Answer 2

It's not possible to accurately predict the exact number of female psychology majors with long hair who will be at the library in that specific scenario. There are too many variables involved, such as individual schedules, interests, and behavior.