LOVE! VALOUR! EQUATIONS!

What’s their hidden formula, their miracle recipe, their magic potion? In short, their secret? Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, a PhD in mathematics, might just have the answer. Not a spell or an incantation, but a formula—or more precisely, mathematical formulas. Could the solution to our romantic troubles lie in the very subject most of us once dreaded in school? If x and y could save your relationship, would you dare to venture into the mind of a mathematician to untangle matters of the heart?

From the earliest attempts to model love mathematically to his own groundbreaking research, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet reveals how love and mathematics can illuminate one another, showing that equations might help us rethink the way we connect, argue, and stay together. Drawing on insights from psychologists, economists, writers, filmmakers, and even his own experiences, he demonstrates that, much like Molière’s Monsieur Jourdain, we often engage in mathematics without even realizing it. With clarity and charm, he invites us to explore love in all its complexity—stripping away the randomness and uncovering the patterns that shape our relationships.

Laurent Pujo-Menjouet is a Professor of Mathematics at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (France). Trained in applied mathematics, he conducted postdoctoral research at McGill University (Canada) and was an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University (USA) before returning to France. His work uses dynamical systems to explore complex biological and medical phenomena, from epidemics and neurodegenerative diseases to radiobiology, bone formation, and blood disorders. More recently, he has turned his mathematical lens toward human behavior, including the dynamics of romantic relationships.