6 year olds in China can solve this puzzle in 20 seconds. After 20 minutes I gave up.

[claig]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3127520/Are-smarter-Hong-Kong-grader-Logic-puzzle-Chinese-primary-school-exam-stumps-adults-6-year-olds-crack-just-20-seconds.html

I've heard about teenage whizzkids from Oxbridge who work as interns for the Labour Party . But 6 year olds outwitting adults across the planet? What on earth is gong on?

I got it in under 20 seconds.
ArtsGrad.

Would it be amiss to state the conclusion that there seems to be some kind of definitive correlation that the cleverer and more thoughtful one is, the longer it takes to solve this particular puzzle? Just thinking laterally!

Only if that applies to the Chery's Birthday one.

I can't even understand the explanation of that.

That is a very good one. Poor GCSE candidates. What did they do to deserve that? I am all for Goveian rigour as long as I am not on the end of it.

Seen it straight away feeling happy to be as smart as a 6 year old

I got it really quickly. But I can read upside down nearly as fast as some people read regular text.

I think it entirely depends on how you first look at the picture. If you look at it as a whole you'll get it quickly, if you focus on the numbers you'll not get it as you'll be concentrating on what the sequence is.

The trick is not to think about it. Just look at it and its obvious. I got it immediately but DH was busily trying to work out the sequence (that being some other sequence, obvs ).

Having said that, I didn't get the twist in the movie The Sixth Sense until about a minute before it was revealed, while DH sat bored through almost the whole thing having spotted it at the first clue .

I got it really quickly, the 06 gave it away. If you turn into a RL probem rather than a maths puzzle, like 6 yo would, the perspective of the car driver is obvious.

(Might be from marking loads of KS1 and 2 maths papers )

Glad I got the gist of it, Gemauve although I didn't know about the initial 0 indicating the use of octal base. :)

I have a BSc and and MSc and quite a decent IQ - but I don't really think it is intellect based, it's how you see things. So yes, Claig, it would be amiss of you to suggest that.

As Telephone said, being able to read upside down quickly is, I think, part of it.

Got it in a few seconds, so clearly I have the brain of a 6 year old

i got it very easily. it isn't maths

Agree this is not maths - I saw it straightaway, but I think it just depends how you look at it - if just out of the corner of your eye you are more likely to spot it, in same way that you are more likely to spot a magic trick if you are not fully concentrating on it..
I don't think it is any indicator of maths or other skills any more than any other contrived puzzle.

I couldn't work it out.

DD got it in about 5 seconds

But noooooo. The correct number doesn't 'work' if you wrote it in.

I had to put my phone down and move around the table. Bah.

Just tried it on DH. He couldn't work it out, I took pity on him and turned the screen over for him - he's now going to send it to his work juniors to see how they get on with it!