LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)- Those who are following Tom Cruise’s love life may have picked up on one or two trends. True, he does seem to have an eye for women ready to take their careers to the next level, but what about the math?

Cruise’s first wife, Mimi Rogers, was six years older than him. His second, Nicole Kidman, was five years younger. After their divorce in 2001, he dated his "Vanilla Sky" co-star Penelope Cruz, who was seven years younger than Kidman, and now he’s all over Katie Holmes, who is five years younger than her immediate predecessor.

While we have no doubt that Cruise and Holmes are on the cusp of happily ever after in the grand tradition of Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton, er, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, er, Linda Evans and Yanni ... well, you know, somebody and somebody else, it’s always good to have a Plan B (or C, or D). Thus, extrapolating from Cruise’s past, it’s a semi-educated (if not entirely scientific) guess that his next true love forever will have been born between 1984 and ’86, a dating pool full of attractive fish.

Scarlett Johnansson may already be too much of an A-lister, but she was briefly attached to "Mission: Impossible 3," and Cruise does like his co-stars. This also makes Lindsay Lohan a candidate, if she doesn’t end up getting replaced by current squeeze Holmes.

Keira Knightley springs to mind, as does up-and-comer Emmy Rossum ("Phantom of the Opera").

Holmes sets the precedent that TV talent should not be ignored. This fertlie ground yields not only "The O.C.’s" Mischa Barton and Olivia Wilde, but also "American Dreams" stars Brittany Snow and Vanessa Lengies. Plus, like Holmes, Amanda Bynes, Michelle Trachtenberg and Emily VanCamp all know their way around The WB.

Although dark-horse contenders, both Kelly Osbourne and Tina Majorino have huge amounts of potential. And nobody could fund the building of Scientology centers around the world like Mary-Kate or Ashley Olsen.

Actors in general — and Cruise in particular — often tend to hook up with their own kind, but since Julia Roberts and Anne Heche found domestic bliss with cameramen, perhaps Cruise should expand to some other areas, even if it’s just in the arts.

Fact: Mandy Moore sings and acts.

While Jessica Simpson and Hilary Duff need not apply, Jessica’s little sister Ashlee and Hilary’s older sib Haylie are fair game.

Both Charlotte Church and Avril Lavigne meet Cruise’s penchant for women with an accent. Church hails from Wales, and Canadian Lavigne can "aboot" with the best of them.

Since we’ve already turned on our TV sets, what about those reality-show contestants? Assuming Cruise is no better than Scott Wolf and Jeff Probst, he could have his pick of "American Idol" hopefuls Lindsey Cardinale, Jessica Sierra and Carmen Rasmusen, although converting from the Mormon faith would probably be a hard sell for the last one.