Yesterday’s Problem:
When you throw a pair of dice, what are the chances that the number that comes up will be even?
Answer:
There are six possible even numbers that can come up : 2,4,6,8,10 and 12 – and only five possible odd numbers: 3,5,7,9 and 11. But, in spite of this, there are actually eighteen ways to throw an even number and eighteen ways to throw an odd number. So, this means the odds of an even number are indeed even.
You can easily see this by looking at the diagram below. The numbers of the two dice are listed in the top row and left most column. If you fill in the totals in the matrix, you will count 18 ways to throw an even number and 18 ways to throw an odd number. (Note that there are 36 total cells below).
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||
| 6 |
Today’s Problem:
How strongly do words affect perception? Practice reading the four lines of colored words below – but instead of saying the words, say the color of each word.
Can you say more than five words in a row without making a mistake? Or three?
RED YELLOW BLUE GREEN
YELLOW BLUE GREEN RED
GREEN RED YELLOW BLUE
BLUE GREEN RED YELLOW