landon

This is why IQ tests don't work too well on really smart people. Because sorta smart people tend to give the expected answer. And really smart people tend to point out that the question is wrong, and start arguing with the test, or trying to correct it, thereby making the test impossible to grade and annoying everyone. The expected answer to this is 72. Because 2*2*2 = 8 and 5*5*2 = 50, so 6*6*2 = 72. But the (really) correct answer is "I don't know." Because what you have is two points on a 3 dimensional graph (x,y) -> z. z = 2*x*y is one surface that can be drawn through these two points. And I suspect it's the simplest formula for a surface that can be so drawn, although I haven't bothered to check. But an infinite number of contiguous surfaces can be drawn in three dimensions that encompass these points (2,2,8) and (5,5,50). Each of these surfaces can be described by its own formula. Some of them will also touch (6,6,72). But others of them will touch (6,6, {something else entirely}) instead. This might sound really, really pedantic. But it's not. Everyone knows that the expected answer is the simple one, but that's only on a test... a fake artificial made up problem. When we start trying to do this in the real world, which, after all is what this "IQ" thing is actually for, then using the same kind of "IQ test thinking" can get you in trouble. "My 3-month-old son is now TWICE as big as when he was born. He's on track to weigh 7.5 trillion pounds by age 10." -@pronounced_kyle Fitting the simplest-formula curve, as opposed to the correct curve, makes our predictions of real-world stuff dead wrong. So this kind of test question promotes a dangerous habit of thought. But, Devon, I hear some of you ask, doesn't the principle of Occam's Razor demand that we fit the simplest curve? No. No, it does not. It does not require that we select the simplest possible answer, given what we have currently seen. It requires that we prefer hypotheses that make fewer assumption to those that make more. These are two different things entirely. If I see one black sheep, the simplest hypothesis is that all sheep are black. The hypothesis requiring the fewest assumptions is that at least one sheep is black on at least one side. You will note which of these is correct. All of this is, of course, irrelevant to questions on IQ test. But questions on an IQ test only matter as much as they are relevant to the actual universe... Where ideas like this are very relevant indeed.

This is why IQ tests don't work too well on really smart people. Because sorta smart people tend to give the expected answer. And really smart people tend to point out that the question is wrong, and start arguing with the test, or trying to correct it, thereby making the test impossible to grade and annoying everyone. The expected answer to this is 72. Because 2*2*2 = 8 and 5*5*2 = 50, so 6*6*2 = 72. But the (really) correct answer is "I don't know." Because what you have is two points on a 3 dimensional graph (x,y) -> z. z = 2*x*y is one surface that can be drawn through these two points. And I suspect it's the simplest formula for a surface that can be so drawn, although I haven't bothered to check. But an infinite number of contiguous surfaces can be drawn in three dimensions that encompass these points (2,2,8) and (5,5,50). Each of these surfaces can be described by its own formula. Some of them will also touch (6,6,72). But others of them will touch (6,6, {something else entirely}) instead. This might sound really, really pedantic. But it's not. Everyone knows that the expected answer is the simple one, but that's only on a test... a fake artificial made up problem. When we start trying to do this in the real world, which, after all is what this "IQ" thing is actually for, then using the same kind of "IQ test thinking" can get you in trouble. "My 3-month-old son is now TWICE as big as when he was born. He's on track to weigh 7.5 trillion pounds by age 10." -@pronounced_kyle Fitting the simplest-formula curve, as opposed to the correct curve, makes our predictions of real-world stuff dead wrong. So this kind of test question promotes a dangerous habit of thought. But, Devon, I hear some of you ask, doesn't the principle of Occam's Razor demand that we fit the simplest curve? No. No, it does not. It does not require that we select the simplest possible answer, given what we have currently seen. It requires that we prefer hypotheses that make fewer assumption to those that make more. These are two different things entirely. If I see one black sheep, the simplest hypothesis is that all sheep are black. The hypothesis requiring the fewest assumptions is that at least one sheep is black on at least one side. You will note which of these is correct. All of this is, of course, irrelevant to questions on IQ test. But questions on an IQ test only matter as much as they are relevant to the actual universe... Where ideas like this are very relevant indeed.

@bitcloud 57% of them are, when they are voting on an online hypothetical with nothing at stake.