IT’S not just you. Everyone has the experience of losing socks. But where do those socks go? It’s not likely they can get up and walk themselves out of the washing machine, is it?

    Now, science has finally come up with an answer about where those wayward socks actually get to.

    British psychologist Simon Moore and statistician Geoff Ellis have put their collective minds together to devise a mathematical formula, which aims to throw some light on why we’re so frequently one sock down.

    They concluded that: (L(p x f) + C(t x s)) – (P x A)

    Where L = laundry size, calculated by multiplying the number of people in the household (p) by the frequency of washes in a week (f);

    C = complexity of washing, calculated by multiplying the number of different types of darks and whites washes households do in a week (t) by the number of socks washed in a week (s);

    P = positivity towards doing the laundry, measured on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being a “strong dislike” and 5 “strong enjoyment”;

    And A = attention paid, measured as the total number of precautions taken at the start of each wash out of checking pockets, unrolling sleeves, turning clothes the right way around and unrolling socks.

    The takeaway from the formula: Either we’re very careless with our sock washing or our immense dislike of laundry is a considerable contributing factor in sock-loss. And according to a survey, common causes of sock-loss include items falling behind radiators or under furniture, stray socks being added to the wrong colored wash and becoming separated from their sock twin, or socks not being pegged to the washing line securely so they blew away never to be seen again. (SD-Agencies)