This is supposed to be a smart game, but I keep finding cards like these. They are incorrect. Do you know why?
A big hint in all of them is that the game relies on idiom puns and other misinformation and misdirection, which is characterized as "lateral thinking".
Here is a freebie to explain what I am talking about:
QWhich is correct to say, 'The yolk of the egg are white'
or, 'The yolk of the egg is white'? |
ANeither. The yolk of an egg is yellow. |
|
Real Answer:
Perhaps, but that isn't what the question asked. Italicizing the words
are and
is asks an explicit comparison between them -- thereby specifically discounting any other issues with the sentence. The game tricks you by changing the common meaning -- in other words, by twisting written and visual idioms.
In this case, the trick is the same as bringing someone over to a wrecked car,
pointing to one of the deflated tires and asking how to fix it. If the answer is that the car needs a new engine and a paint job etc then the question about the tire was not actually answered.
Here's another:
QUnder what conditions would a rope be most likely to
break?
a. 20 men of equal strength with 10 pulling on each end.
b. 10 of the same men pulling on one end and the other
end being fastened to a tree.
c. It makes no difference |
AThe answer is c. If 20 men pull on the rome (10 on each
end), the stress on the rope will be no greater than if 10
pulled from one end and the other was tied to a tree.
The tension on a rome is no greater than the pull at one
of its ends. |
|
Real Answer:
Actually, there is a significant difference. The real answer is b, because
any knot weakens a rope. Any time you put bends or folds in something, you weaken it. Structural engineers know this. Here is an origami that bends the way it does by capitalizing on the difference between the weak edges and strong planes in the paper:
https://www.math.lsu.edu/~verrill/origami/parabola/
Here's more. Can you spot the errors?
This one plays semantics:
QIn our calendar some months have 30 days and some
monthes have 31 days. How many months have 28 days? |
A |
This one plays the question not asked:
QIn Duncan's cottage, where the temperature was below
freezing, there was a newspaper, a fireplace, some
kindling, and a kerosene lamp. What should he light
first? |
A |
This one plays idioms:
QDee Septor, the famous magician, recently claimed that
he had been in New York City performing a feat that no
one else had accomplished. He boasted that he had
walked on his hands for a mile and a half down a typical
cement sidewalk before he lost his balance and fell.
What is wrong with Dee Septor's claim? |
AThere is no such thing as a cement sidewalk in New
York City or anywhere else. Sidewalks are made of
concrete. Cement is merely one of the several
ingredients that make up concrete. Concrete is made of
sand, gravel, water, and finally cement, which is the
active agent that binds all of the materials. |
|
Here is a favorite of mine. Even though the answer is correct the explanation is totally bogus:
QAs you approach the centre of a turning wheel, the
speed decreases. Owing to this fact, does the exact
centre of a wheel rotate when the wheel turns? Explain. |
AThe answer is yes. Theoretically, the answer would
appear to be no, since to move at all, it would seem the
exact center is moving in two directions at once, which
is of course impossible. The exact centre of a wheel
does turn since the particle in the centre of the wheel,
be it ever so small, could always be divided in half and
this process could continue indefinitely. |
|
Here is another favorite. This one's logic is twisted by some bad business sense right at the start, and gets worse from there:
QThe owner of the 'Soul-Ace Hotel' asked Hardy Pyle to
go to the local butcher shop to buy some steaks. The
butcher told Hardy that he had 18 steaks for sale which
varied in quality. Half the steaks were worth $4 and
the other half worth $6. If the butcher selected the steaks
they would by $4 each and if Hardy selected them
they would be $6 each. Bearing in mind that the butcher
will obviously choose the lower quality steaks, what
should Hardy do in order to get the best all-around deal? |
AHardy should buy them all. Since he is buying the
steaks for a hotel, to purchase 18 steaks is not
unreasonable. Bu purchasing them all, he will get both
the $4 and the $6 steaks at the low price of $4 each. |
|
I'm sure they were using Weedster's Dictionary on this one:
QIn the following series, which can be evenly divided by two?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
|
AAll of them. In the case of 7, it can be evenly divided into
two parts, each being 3 1/2. |
|
Well, that's it for my 'ppl r stoopid' rant. I bet the guys who wrote this nonsense sit around in their MENSA meetings thinking they are smart.