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My IQ

blog.tanyakhovanova.com

31–40 of 294 posts

Re: My IQ

#31
post #23

|Cow, hen, pig, sheep The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. In fact, it is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus (or even family) of animal. I'm all for creativity (I have the same complaint often) but there needs to be some sort of standardization in communic…

~~Sheep / ram?~~ Cow / bull? ~~Sow / uh, pig ? (I don't know about pig)~~ Hen / cock? (Pseudo strikethrough! See child comment from pbiggar.)

I believe its Ewe / ram Sow / boar

Re: My IQ

#32
post #6

In theory, I believe there could be an objective way to determine the "simplest" answer if it is defined as having the lowest Kolmogorov complexity among valid answers (if I read the Wikipedia article correctly) [0]. In the context of an IQ test though, it is not a very practical solution. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolmogorov_complexity

It's actually an impossible solution, since Kolmogorov complexity is uncomputable. However, there are some related complexity measures which are computable, so that they are merely impractical rather than impossible to apply: http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Algorithmic_complexity#O...

Of course, you can bet that the writers of the test did not use anything related to algorithmic complexity when deciding the correct answers to these questions. We can't show the exact complexity of the different hypotheses, but we can sometimes compare hypotheses. Imagine programs that generate answers according to the different hypotheses. Between the program that answers according to taxonomy, and the program that answers according to word length, which one requires a look-up table of animals and their classes?

Re: My IQ

#33
Never quiet thought of it like this. There some things that would seem obvious to me but reading this realise perhaps not so much. Anyway IQ tests have long fallen out of fashion as they only measure a certain type of intelligence

Re: My IQ

#35
post #22

> > Cow, hen, pig, sheep. > The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I thought "It's the only one that goes around on two legs." And then: "It's the only one that reproduces via eggs." Maybe not the right answer for the "right" reason, but works... But then, as I have gotten older, my IQ is probably half what it was when I was tested as a teen (not a candidate for Mensa, sorry) Probably beca…

Let's try to list all the "correct" answers.

1) Hen - only one with wings / only bird / only non mammal / only egg-reproducer / only creature using 2 legs

2) Sheep - only one with more than 3 letters in name / renewable wool provider (eggs and milk are renewing?) Only plural without an S (sheep vs cows, hens, pigs)

3) Pig - only animal without renewing product (no milk, no eggs, no wool); only male name (cow hen and sheep are female);

4) Cow - only sacred animal

Re: My IQ

#36
post #8
post #6

In theory, I believe there could be an objective way to determine the "simplest" answer if it is defined as having the lowest Kolmogorov complexity among valid answers (if I read the Wikipedia article correctly) [0]. In the context of an IQ test though, it is not a very practical solution. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolmogorov_complexity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolmogorov_complexity#Incomputa...

I'm not a mathematician, but I don't think that means what you think it does. It doesn't preclude being able to compute the K-complexity for some subset of strings, or for some fixed maximum complexity. Since the scenario here is checking which of a few relatively low-complexity options has the lowest complexity (eg generally could be expressed in English in <30 words), it seems it could be used in this context.

Re: My IQ

#37

What are the benefits of being a member of Mensa?

Probably networking (providing social proof to people who are "like you" that they are sufficiently "like you" that they should help you in some way).

Re: My IQ

#39
post #23

|Cow, hen, pig, sheep The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. In fact, it is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus (or even family) of animal. I'm all for creativity (I have the same complaint often) but there needs to be some sort of standardization in communic…

~~Sheep / ram?~~ Cow / bull? ~~Sow / uh, pig ? (I don't know about pig)~~ Hen / cock? (Pseudo strikethrough! See child comment from pbiggar.)

Boar is a male pig. Male sheep names depend on if it got snipped (ram is for "intact" males).

// answers correspond to growing up in ND

Re: My IQ

#40
post #24

|Cow, hen, pig, sheep The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. In fact, it is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus (or even family) of animal. I'm all for creativity (I have the same complaint often) but there needs to be some sort of standardization in communic…

'pig' can be written in a way such that it has a symmetry about a vertical line, so I'd go with it.

Scott Kim can make any of them symmetrical in multiple ways - that's not a distinguishing feature.
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