Monday, March 27, 2006

Pop Quiz

Shane Frederick, an assistant professor at MIT, has developed a 90-second test that seems to predict whether you will be good at things like managing money. The test, dubbed a Cognitive Reflection Test, or CRT, consists of three questions

(1) A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

(2) If it takes five machine five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 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 of the lake?

-- Roger Lowenstein, SmartMoney Magazine, April 2006

[6/16/06] the answers

No comments: