Summer (Jim),
To answer your question, I didn't examine how many women wanted a guy 6 foot or above. I did my match.com study several years ago. I have the data around here somewhere, but its not in front of me at the moment (I remember the 71 to 73 ratio, because it was the same ratio as what was in The Economist).
When calculating how much taller a man must be, I took the average of the range given by each woman (those who listed a range). If a 5' 5'' woman said she was interested in a 5' 8'' to 6' 0'' man, I used 5 inches as the desired difference (I ignored women who said they were interesting in a man of at least a certain height, and those who had an unrealistic range such as 5' 10'' to 8' 0''). My guess is that you took the minimum value of the range (i.e., in my example above you would have computed a differences of 3 inches, as opposed to my 5 inches).
In my match.com days, I'd use the height requirement that many/most women had for men as an "exclusion factor." What I mean is that I'd exclude women who had a height requirement that didn't span their own height. I'd do this even if I fell within their range. If I read in a woman's profile that she was 5' 2'' but was interested in a 5' 7'' to 6' man, I'd simply go on to the next profile. I'd do this with other criteria too, such as age. While people are free to be attracted to whomever they want, I didn't think I'd be a good match to women who had such specific criteria. I tended to be attracted to women who were more open (e.g., those that didn't have a height requirement). I considered that to be an indicator of a more compatible personality type.
You are correct. While women are more accepting of men who are slightly overweight, they do not go for slim/thin men (except for those with athletic builds). Yes, I'm speaking in generalities.
I appreciate your comments and your analytic approach to this. There's considerable data out there on sites like match.com. While these data are not necessarily representative of the general population, I think one can come away with good insight about what traits women (or men) find desirable in potential partners.
Time to ER.
