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Topic: Smarter than Mensa (Read 21031 times) |
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Llew B
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The first answer that occurred to me for question #1 was "card" because all of the other words have "i" as their third letter.
For the second one, figure #3, because all of the other figures can be divided into two haves of equal area by making single straight cuts between points where the interior lines intersect the edges.
For the third one, it was essentially the "official" answer: That only figure 5 is symetrical about less than 4 axes.
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Elbee
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I'm late to the game here, but wanted to a few more reasons that KNIFE could be the answer:
With the exception of KNIFE, each of the words can be turned into another common word by dropping one or more letters from the beginning or end. PAIL -> AIL or PA, SKILLET -> SKI or SKILL or LET, SUITCASE -> SUIT or CASE, and CARD -> CAR.
Similarly, all but KNIFE is or contains a four letter word (PAIL, KILL, SUIT/CASE, CARD).
KNIFE is also the only one in which all of its capitalized letters can be written with straight lines.
KNIFE is also the only one not containing a US postal abbreviation for a state (PAIL -> PA/IL, SKILLET -> IL, SUITCASE -> CA, CARD -> CA).
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ki85squared
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Well, for the second one, I noticed right away that figure 5 is the only figure in which the lines inside of the polygon are not intersecting.
In the third problem, figure five is the only one with both lines and circles inside of the polygon.
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Ajax
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #78 on: May 23rd, 2005, 2:33am » |
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I don't know if any of the guys that were discussing about the languages will see my message, but here is my opinion: My native language (or is the correct term native tongue?) is not English. What I believe about english is that it has been fortunate to be the spoken language of two empires. The british empire was one of the biggest ones (maybe the biggest) which formed new countries where, guess what, the spoken language is english: Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and of course USA. That has helped a lot in it's evolution.
But the biggest advantage and therefore the biggest boost is that Hollywood and Silicone valley speak english... The USA is undoubtably the present world leader which is as influential as nothing else: MacDonald's, Coca-Cola, Tom Cruise (just an example), etc. In my country, almost all the films are with subtitles (except for kids programs and soap operas for the elderly people) and I think 95% or more of them are english spoken. And so many words are being used as they are from english.
Maybe 100 years ago french was more popular than english and I think it is still concidered the diplomat's language. However it is not so popular nowadays, something which french people don't realize and insist on expecting from others to speak their language.
In the ancient years, people were speaking greek, not because it was easy, but because almost all the mediterranean sea was filled with greek colonies and that helped the commerce. Even during the roman years, greek was a very popular language, but that because it had evolved and had been learnt almost by anyone.
Now, one thing that makes english easy, is grammar. However, this also deprives a lot of the beauty that others have.
Finally I find people who have as native language latin (french, italian, spanish etc.) originated or german (german, english I think) originated languages fortunate because it's easier for them to learn other languages. Mine is greek and maybe the only thing that is easy for me is to understand by using only greek is medical terms. As for ancient greek I can understand just the basic stuff.
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mmm
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Fred Fnord
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I got a couple of answers for #1 but they've already been covered. Frankly, I think the 'designed to contain something' is a better answer than 'possessed of a handle'.
Just another answer for #2 that I haven't seen yet, but which was the first one I thought of: #1 is the only figure that does not contain any (apparent) right angles.
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Skeeter
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #80 on: Aug 9th, 2006, 5:37am » |
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one more answer for knife (although it may have been mentioned in the hijacked portions of the thread, didn't read those as carefully as the ones that seemed related to the riddle)
knife is the only one that is not made plural simply by adding an "s" to the end.
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kiochi
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #81 on: Jan 5th, 2007, 7:43pm » |
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for part 2,
diagram #4 is the only one in which the number of regions in the shape is not divisible by the diagram number:
#1 has 13 regions, and 1|13,
#2 has 4 regions, and 2|4
#3 has 3 regions ...
#4 has 9 regions, 4 doesn't divide 9
#5 has 5 regions
#6 has 6 regions
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Locke64
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #82 on: Jan 5th, 2007, 7:58pm » |
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Without looking at replies:
1. Which of the following five words doesn't belong with the others, and why?
pail skillet knife suitcase card
knife. It is the only item that does not hold things. (a card can hold information such as ID or $.)
2. One of the figures below lacks a characteristic common to the other figures. Which one, and why?
#5: None of the inside lines intersect with each other.
or
#3: It does not have a line of symmetry running from its bottom-left corner to its top-right corner.
3. One of the figures below lacks a characteristic common to the other figures. Which one, and why?
No right angles
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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #83 on: Jan 5th, 2007, 8:03pm » |
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The third example is my favorite. I think it really shows how flawed those tests are. Sure they try to avoid things like this, but even so...
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rmsgrey
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #84 on: Jan 6th, 2007, 6:34am » |
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on Jan 5th, 2007, 7:58pm, Locke64 wrote:2. One of the figures below lacks a characteristic common to the other figures. Which one, and why?
[...]
or
#3: It does not have a line of symmetry running from its bottom-left corner to its top-right corner. |
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Nor do 5 and 6... On the other hand, if you talk about order-2 rotational symmetry then that is the only one that lacks it
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Locke64
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #85 on: Jan 6th, 2007, 6:48am » |
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on Jan 6th, 2007, 6:34am, rmsgrey wrote:
Nor do 5 and 6... On the other hand, if you talk about order-2 rotational symmetry then that is the only one that lacks it |
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Yeah, that's what I meant...
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"Do you care about homework and all that crap?" ~LOCKE64
"Not really, but-" ~ANTISNAKERZ_RULE
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crapydost
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #86 on: Oct 5th, 2007, 10:12pm » |
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for 2nd question my answer would be #6 as it has odd number of straight lines in it.
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #87 on: Oct 5th, 2007, 10:58pm » |
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on Jan 5th, 2007, 7:58pm, Locke64 wrote:Without looking at replies:
1. Which of the following five words doesn't belong with the others, and why?
pail skillet knife suitcase card |
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'Pail' is the only one that has a homonym.
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michaelscwu
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #88 on: Dec 31st, 2007, 2:13am » |
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1. card; only word without the letter i
2. #6; only figure with an odd number of straight lines
3. #1; only figure without a circle or circles
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Hippo
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #89 on: Dec 31st, 2007, 4:07am » |
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Wow, so spoiled thread:
I don't like the IQ tests so I prefere the language spoiling  ... My native language is Czech, this is why slavic languages are easy for me, also indo-evropean languages are not so difficult, too.
Hungarian or even Chines, Japanes ... are very complicated for me because they are realy foreign languages. Obstacles are not only linguistic, but cultural as well.
As Feynman wrote, Japanes has several orders of politeness.
You cannot expect people in central Africa needs several words for snow, but when you live in Alaska ... the same for kinds of rains in London.
Writing has big influence on language as well. Arabic don't write wowels? Chinese don't describe sounds at all. As the language is spread and common broadcasting is rather new, the spoken equivalents differ. This is the 500 history of English as well, words become more pictures than sound descriptions.
As in Portugeese we modify words in Czech rather strange way. The former English was more complicated before its wide spread across the world. The simplification was paid for it.
I have problems with the "the, a" thing as well as it is not part of my native language. The word order is mostly fixed in English - this makes the grammer easier but you loose something as well.
....
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ecoist
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #90 on: Dec 31st, 2007, 9:35am » |
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What WTF said:
Quote:| The third example is my favorite. I think it really shows how flawed those tests are. Sure they try to avoid things like this, but even so... |
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reminded me of how I turned Mensa into an acronym: Mentally Extraordinary, No Significant Achievements.
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MichaelM
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #91 on: Jan 1st, 2008, 6:22pm » |
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In the first question the answer should be card because it is the only word in which all the letters are pronounced.
Pail is a homonym of pale hence no need for the I.
Knife doesn't pronounce the K.
Skillet doesn't pronounce the second L.
Suitcase doesn't pronounce the E.
This solution makes as much sense as any other.
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joeblow
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #92 on: Mar 21st, 2010, 2:10pm » |
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1) card doesnt have an i
2) #4 IS THE ONLY ONE THAT DOESN'T CONTAIN ANY TRIANGLES
3) #1 doesn't have any circles
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malchar
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Re: Smarter than Mensa
« Reply #93 on: Mar 26th, 2010, 2:37pm » |
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I like the idea of thinking about the words as literals rather than as the objects represented by the words. I think that "pail" is the weirdo because it is the only one that extends into the negative y-axis when written.
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