Three simple tests

  1. A bat and 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 will it take for 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 the lake?

Make a note of your responses and then click ‘comments’ to see the answers.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 4th, 2010 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Comments

  • Roger Darlington
    October 4th, 2010 at 5:50 pm

    If you’re called Nick or Andy, these tests will have been simple.

    The correct answers are:
    1. 5 pence
    2. 5 minutes
    3. 47 days

    But you may have been tempted to guess:
    1. 10 pence
    2. 100 minutes
    3. 24 days

    This little test is contained early in a book I’ve just started reading. It’s called “Nudge” and it’s all about how we take decisions and how decision-making can be influenced.

    The test is designed to illustrate the difference between two types of thinking: one that is intuitive and automatic and one that is reflective and rational.

    In our busy world, we often use the automatic system of thinking and it frequently serves us well but, in this case of this test, it would give you the wrong answers.

    So, how did you do?

  • Mavis
    October 6th, 2010 at 10:02 am

    At my ‘overdraft’ age, Math of any sort is still beyond me and I still keep on wondering, who wants to know the answer and why?

    Ah well, life is full of things beyond me.