Science Monday, October 8th 2012 at 4:00 pm

If You Ask Kids What Number is Halfway Between 1 and 9, a Surprising Amount Might Say 3

As it turns out, the number that sits halfway between 1 and 9 might actually be a somewhat contested fact. If you ask the general public the question, folks might answer 5. If you ask kids or someone from a more traditional society, however, the answer is likely to be 3 a surprising amount of the time. They’re not even wrong, exactly. It’s all a matter of perception and how the brain processes numbers.

MIT News explains:


Research led by John Sun postulates that representing data logarithmically rather than linearly reduces the chance of error, as explained by the following example:


It essence, it’s more important to understand the relative value rather than the absolute one. Exponential or logarithmic growth is more important than regular old linear growth. Being able to give an exact number is probably still helpful, though.

(MIT News via Hacker News, image via pareeerica)

Relevant to your interests

Filed Under |
© 2014 Geekosystem, LLC   |   About UsAdvertiseNewsletterJobsPrivacyUser AgreementDisclaimerContactArchives RSS

Dan Abrams, Founder