This was interesting IMO, I guess we can not say it is because people are dumb. But this seems to be key, evidence over gut feeling. https://qz.com/1124046/why-millions-of-americans-believe-things-that-arent-true/
A side note on that baseball and bat question, which I show below. Business schools love that question. Because - 1) Most students get it wrong, and 2) None of them would have done so if they would have checked their answers. A good way to teach humility, and to show how so many stupid-ass things get done and said because people are overconfident in their thinking ability, and don't bother to test their thinking. BATBALL A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? (Only 13% of U.S. adults got that one right. More MBA students do, but nothing like a majority.)
Hmm - math is hard. x + (x + 1.00) = 1.10 x + x + 1.00 = 1.10 2x + 1.00 = 1.10 2x = 1.10 - 1.00 2x = 0.10 x = 0.05
Would you do that if asked the question, or just blurt out "one dollar" and "ten cents" because that is what immediately comes to mind?
I had an engineer ask me this question a few years ago during a college football party. Told me he wanted to know what kind of engineer I'd be*... After answering correctly, I told him that it made no sense to ask somebody who was several beers into the night a question and then try to extrapolate anything from the answer. I figured even a geek virgin knows that, and I told him so. I mean, as soon as you hear "A bat and a ball cost...", you're already kinda doing the math, because the obvious answer is often the one that trips you up when somebody wants to play Gotcha. *Can you tell I live in a town that's saturated with these guys? I mean, I'm not for kicking sand in anybody's face, but being top of your Space Camp class isn't going to help you with the ladies.
Actually - that was exactly what I thought first. But I’ve learned to not trust my initial response with math problems. After realizing my first thought was wrong I figured it out in no time - but per John’s comment, I did the calculation.
He's not as smart as you. Either that, or he was showing how the problem is formally solved. OK, per his comment, I gotta go with the latter.
And those in the 13% would be more more bias on Climate change and such at least that is what I got from the article, so it is the people that can get it right that are more skeptical. BTW some more questions. http://journal.sjdm.org/13/13313/jdm13313.html BTW, no way in hell I can read that study, I tried skimming it and going to the summary, I was way lost.
The lilypad was the easiest to me, the first 2 the easy answer was the first thing that came to my head, so if they were random questions asked out of the blue and I had to respond the first thing that came to my head I would have been wrong.
I just came across this on Twitter, but sometimes we do believe fake "doctors" Have you ever heard of homeopathic asthma medicine? Or other. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/fa...-chiropractors-homeopaths-and-acupuncturists/
Also, not everyone here is a mathlete like Superdave, so writing it out long form was my attempt to help there Technically there was an initial definition step I skipped. x + y = 1.10 and y = x + 1.00
I'm an engineer and I find things are much easier for me to grasp when I see them in front of me. I prefer writing down calculations to solve a problem over trying to do it in my head. Also, I don't trust my head.
I can write down the easy ones but if they get tricky I have to intuit my way to the answer. I know that sounds backward but I was an English major, and we think differently. (Plus I am old and have forgotten much of my formal math.) Like this SAT problem. Had to do solve it in my head. Once I did that, I realized how to write it down -- and how damn obvious that was.
I only got the ratio backwards but my solution was text book (in writing, I'm good at math but cannot conceptualize equations in my head) https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2018/08/09/the-meanest-sat-test-question-ever/
Yep. I can see why the problem would scare non-math people -- it not only has three numbers, but two letters. But the concept is straightforward.
That's the issue summarized, isn't it? What separates those answering wrong vs right is the degree to which somebody is willing to ask themselves if this makes sense before they answer. I think everyone trying to do this in a simple manner instinctively thinks $1.00/$0.10. If you take even a brief moment, it's obviously wrong by 10 cents, so leave a nickel, take a nickel and get the right answer. This is a similar question I remember getting as a kid that plays on superficial intuition: You're making a 2 mile trip. You averaged 30mph for the first mile. How fast do you need to go for the second mile to average 60 mph for the entire trip?
What difference does it make? They're obviously cheap, Chinese-made pieces of shit that have no place soiling the honor of the All-American pastime...