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Can You Pass The World's Shortest IQ Test?

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Can You Pass The World's Shortest IQ Test? 

It's Just Three Questions Long, But Few Can Get Them All Right

The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) has been hailed as the world's shortest IQ test. Apparently, it only takes three questions to separate the Einstein’s from the Homer Simpsons of this world.

The quiz, developed in Princeton in 2005 by psychologist Shane Frederick, is designed to test your ability to ignore your gut response and think slower and more rationally. 

Or in psychology-speak, how good are you at ignoring system 1 (intuition) thinking in favour of system 2 (analytic) thinking? To succeed in the CRT, you must spend time reflecting on your answer and question your intuitive response. 

Of course, to prove your genius you must get all three questions correct but speed also matters. Speedier answers are another sign of a higher IQ. Remember, the questions might not be quite as simple as they first seem. Even students at some of the world's top universities (including Yale and Harvard) failed to get all three answers correct in a 2003 study. 

In fact, only 17 percent achieved a perfect score. 

So, how smart are you really? 

The Quiz
1. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

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

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? 
 

Answers:

Spoiler

The Answers

1. 5 cents – There is a very good chance you guessed 10 cents.

         The answer is actually a little less – a 5 cent ball plus a bat costing $1.05 will set you back $1.10.

         And, of course, $1.05 is exactly $1 more expensive than 5 cents. (A Princeton study found that people who responded 10 cents were "significantly" less patient than those who got the right answer.)

         Still not convinced…try this:

         Although $1.00 + $0.10 does equal $1.10, if you take $1.00 – $0.10 you get $0.90, but the problem requires that the bat cost $1 more than the ball.

So, the ball must cost $0.05, and the bat must cost $1.05 since $1.05 + $0.05 = $1.10

2. 5 minutes – Your gut instinct might be to say 100 minutes. Fortunately, it wouldn't take quite so long. From the question, we can determine it takes exactly 5 minutes for 1 widget machine to make 1 widget. Therefore, it would take 5 minutes to make 100 widgets from 100 widget machines. Because each machine spits out one widget every five minutes.

          Each machine spits out one widget every five minutes. That is the rate of widget production for the machines, and it doesn't change no matter how many machines you are running at once.

3. 47 days – You might have guessed 24 days. It seems intuitive to half the number of days because you're halving the size of the lilypad patch. But if the area of the lake covered in lilypads doubles every day, it would only take one day for it to go from being half covered to fully covered.

Take one day away from 48 days and you're left with 47.

Did you solve the puzzle?

Was it easy?

Tell us in the section below!
 

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I am taking a risk of making a fool of myself by posting my answers before looking.. I swear I didnt cheat

1. $.10

2. 5 min

3 47 days

now to see how off I was

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