I saw this problem recently, and the website claimed that it could be solved by pre-school children in five to ten minutes, and by adults in much longer.
8809 = 3
7111 = 0
2172 = 0
6666 = 4
1111 = 0
3213 = 0
7662 = 2
9313 = 1
0000 = 4
2222 = 0
3333 = 0
5555 = 0
8193 = 3
8096 = 5
1012 = 1
7777 = 0
9999 = 4
7756 = 1
6855 = 3
9881 = 5
5531 = 0
2581 = ???
The article claimed that children can solve it easier because they are more creative. But somehow, I don't really agree with the author's viewpoint. His view is that to solve this question, one needs to be creative - something which kids have but adults generally don't. However, this is simply because kids have almost no knowledge of math, or rather, extremely simple and limited knowledge of math.
When we encounter a problem, the first thing we generally do is to browse through our 'database' for any similar problems, and look for past solutions. As we grow older, our database gets bigger and bigger, because we accumulate more experience. Let's call this database 'the box', which makes sense because for us to be creative, we need to 'think out of the box'. And as we age, this box expands (in general), and it gets harder to think out of the box.
I must admit that when I first saw the problem, I started to think of how to solve it mathematically. And being more familiar and savvy in mathematics, I found myself trying to solve it in increasingly abstract methods until I remembered again - pre-school children could solve it faster than adults. Something is wrong.
I immediately thought of a Chinese novel by 金庸 － 侠客行. In this story, the protagonist manages to decipher an ancient martial art manual inscribed on a cave wall which has stumped world-class pugilists for decades. The protagonist is an adult, and the reason why he could decipher it was because he couldn't read. The writings were just a distraction - to decode it, one just has to look at the shape of the writings as if they were pictures. Being illiterate, he could only interpret them as pictures, and ironically managed to solve one of the biggest mysteries in the world.
After that, I looked at the puzzle again and lo and behold - I have solved it. (This is already a big hint, so scroll down only when you really can't solve it) But I admit that if the article did not state that pre-school children can solve it faster than adults, I may not be able to solve this at all.
So back to why I don't agree totally with the author's point; children do not really find this problem easier because they are more creative. Rather, it's because they have almost no knowledge of math. So it is inevitable that they interpret the numbers less as numbers, but rather, more as pictures or shapes. It is less of being creative and more of exploring other options because of their limited knowledge.
(Highlight the white text below for the answer)
When we encounter a problem, the first thing we generally do is to browse through our 'database' for any similar problems, and look for past solutions. As we grow older, our database gets bigger and bigger, because we accumulate more experience. Let's call this database 'the box', which makes sense because for us to be creative, we need to 'think out of the box'. And as we age, this box expands (in general), and it gets harder to think out of the box.
I must admit that when I first saw the problem, I started to think of how to solve it mathematically. And being more familiar and savvy in mathematics, I found myself trying to solve it in increasingly abstract methods until I remembered again - pre-school children could solve it faster than adults. Something is wrong.
I immediately thought of a Chinese novel by 金庸 － 侠客行. In this story, the protagonist manages to decipher an ancient martial art manual inscribed on a cave wall which has stumped world-class pugilists for decades. The protagonist is an adult, and the reason why he could decipher it was because he couldn't read. The writings were just a distraction - to decode it, one just has to look at the shape of the writings as if they were pictures. Being illiterate, he could only interpret them as pictures, and ironically managed to solve one of the biggest mysteries in the world.
After that, I looked at the puzzle again and lo and behold - I have solved it. (This is already a big hint, so scroll down only when you really can't solve it) But I admit that if the article did not state that pre-school children can solve it faster than adults, I may not be able to solve this at all.
So back to why I don't agree totally with the author's point; children do not really find this problem easier because they are more creative. Rather, it's because they have almost no knowledge of math. So it is inevitable that they interpret the numbers less as numbers, but rather, more as pictures or shapes. It is less of being creative and more of exploring other options because of their limited knowledge.
(Highlight the white text below for the answer)
The answer for each set of numbers is simply the number of circles present. For example, the numbers 0, 6, and 9 have one circle each, while the number 8 has two. So for 2581, the answer is two.
No comments:
Post a Comment