Skip to main content

Cognitive Reflection Test

Apparently, 83% of folks miss at least one of the following questions:


(1) A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? _____ cents

(2) If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? _____ minutes

(3) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake? _____ days

33% of folks got them all wrong. I'm interested in how you did. :)

Elise and I took it and got all of them right; although, I don't know if it was intended to be a collaborative effort.

Comments

lillysmum said…
10 cents, 5 minutes and 47 days?
February 13, 2016 at 8:30 AM
Bill Cobabe said…
The ball costs five cents. The bat costs a dollar more than the ball so if the ball were ten cents the total would be $1.20. Otherwise, you're right on. You could go to Harvard. :)
February 13, 2016 at 9:11 AM
lillysmum said…
Embarrassing. Of course it's 5 cents.
February 13, 2016 at 11:17 AM
Bill Cobabe said…
Well. You didn't have Elise to help you. ;) no shame in that.
February 13, 2016 at 11:20 AM
Bill Cobabe said…
Also, if you want to get very clever about it, the lily pads could cover half the pond in one day, if it were the last day - 47 to cover the first half, one more to cover the remaining half.
February 13, 2016 at 11:22 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is this thing still on?

 Does anyone even blog anymore? I remember when it first got started and everyone was having a blog. I like writing, and I do a lot of it in my professional life, but not everything makes it onto this blog, which is where a lot of my personal thoughts come out. I put more into Facebook lately, too, because it's a little easier. But there's something to be said for this long-form writing exercise, and I think I will continue here periodically. You don't mind, do you? Well, in my last post I wrote about how difficult things were for me at the time. That changed in July when I finally got a job working for the State of Utah. I was the program manager for the moderate income housing database program, and that meant I worked from home a lot but also went in to Salt Lake when needed, mostly on the train. It was a good experience, for the most part, and I'm grateful for the things I learned even in the short time I was there.  In October I started working for Weber County in t...
1 comment
Read more

The Other Art

I'm not sure we appreciate photography as much as we do other art forms. Part of this comes from the reality that surrounds and permeates a photograph - it's very, very real, and the photographer strives for clarity and crispness in the representations. Perhaps this is why black and white images continue to be relevant - they strip away extraneous information (color) and leave us with something that is at once familiar and also non-existent - for nothing exists in black and white. Nothing. I also think that pictures are becoming too common-place... Everyone has a camera in their pocket, and while that's a very democratic thing (everyone can express themselves in a picture easily and readily, and can find an audience for these images, which are casually taken and casually viewed, and perhaps just as casually forgotten) I think that we embrace that casual attitude, and it spills over to all aspects of the media, making it impotent. So I read this article this morning: h...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Romantic Encounter

Him (tears in his eyes, heartbroken): I want you to know that I love you, that I'm sorry for my weakness and frailties, and that I will try and do better. I think I am doing better than I was before, and I just want to please you and make you happy. I am very grateful for your continued patience as I try to be the kind of man I want to be. Her: You need a haircut. It's getting a little long.
15 comments
Read more