What is my IQ?
Yesterday my friend Balaji sent me a math problem, with a clever way of proving that I figured it out.
He also added a note that ‘the people who forwarded it to me claim that only people with an IQ 120 and over are able to figure this out. Not sure, but it is a little tricky’.
Here is the problem - If:
2+3=10
7+2=63
6+5=66
8+4=96
Then:9+7=???
I tried for about 5 minutes; couldn’t figure out. But couldn’t let go and delete it either. Does it mean I do not have an IQ of over 120? Whatever that means, I can’t accept that and give up.
Just then I remembered the Social Science teacher Jeff Jennings of Scottsdale High (Scottsdale, Tasmania, Australia) with whom I worked for sometime. He would say, ‘it is not necessary for the children to memorise the capitals of all the countries around the world. It is enough if they know where to look it up when they need to know’. This was in the (19)70s.
I solved the puzzle and felt you can’t use the same old Mensa test (designed in 1946) to measure people’s IQ now. Things have changed so much.
Incidentally, the Social Science curriculum for the high school included two major topics that Mr. Jennings felt are relevant for the children of that remote ‘down under down under’ rural town.
1. How to get rescued if you get lost in the wilderness
2. What options you and your boy friend have if you got pregnant while you are both still in high school
