Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>

Inductive Reasoning Question- Help!

Hi... I can't seem to figure out this question no matter how hard I think... can someone please tell me the answer and how they got it... thanks...

logic question.jpg14.8KB

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Milch

sio06

Hi... I can't seem to figure out this question no matter how hard I think... can someone please tell me the answer and how they got it... thanks...

My first instinct is A, although I'm not sure as my reasoning is a bit wierd.

Reply 2

Melancholy

My choice would be A.

Arrow pattern: Up, down, up, down, up, down, etc.
Colour pattern: White, black, black, white, black, black, etc.
Dot pattern: 4, 2, 4, 3, 5, 4

I could be missing something though, and therefore I could be wrong.

Reply 3

WokSz

Melancholy

Haha you just beat me to it. It's A.

Reply 4

FunkMasterN

Melancholy

Best answer ever, I completely agree.

Reply 5

Altruistic1

What is up with all of these awful reasoning questions?? Stupid tests...

222.. (right)
223... (left)

21... [2] (right)
02... [2](left)

I think you're meant to assume there are two patterns occuring, although it makes very poor logical sense considering the the 445. I imagine you're meant to think the second square adds up to 2, the fourth to 3 so the sixth will add up to 4. I.e. A.

Reply 6

The-Real-One

sio06

Hi... I can't seem to figure out this question no matter how hard I think... can someone please tell me the answer and how they got it... thanks...

A

Reasoning:

*Only black arrows occur next to another black arrow

*(n+n1) where the sum of black dots in pictures is always one less than (n1+n2)

Reply 7

Joinedup

could be A or E

A if the rule for number of dots on the down arrow is 2,3,4
E if the rule for number of dots on the down arrow is number of dots on previous square -2, number of dots on previous square -1, number of dots on previous square -0

Reply 8

Dirac Delta Function

I'd go for B, personally.

Up arrow means add dots, down arrow means remove them - White mean one dot, black means two.

Reply 9

Verne_Lundquist

I would have gone for A personally, but can see arguments for both B and E

given that a bunch of intelligent people here all find ways to support different answers, it really makes you question the validity of these inductive reasoning exams.

Reply 10

The-Real-One

Dirac Delta Function

I'd go for B, personally.

Up arrow means add dots, down arrow means remove them - White mean one dot, black means two.

Is it just me or have you written the exact opposite of what you were intending to write?

Even if you did mean the opposite, you would have been wrong anyway. There are black arrows in 2 & 3. Difference of black dots between 2&3 is 2, but difference between 3&4 is 1.

Reply 11

Dirac Delta Function

The-Real-One

I think you've misdunderstood what I mean.

if there is a black arrow pointing down, remove 2 dots from the previous number. This is what hapens on the second picture - two of the four dots from the first pic are removed.

Reply 12

loggins

Melancholy

This.

At first I thought the pattern was: According to whether the arrow points up or down, the black arrow increases or decreases the dots by 2, while a white arrow increases or decreases the dots by 1.

This does fit, but unfortunately none of the options match this. So I'd go with A.

Reply 13

Melancholy

Altruistic1

The 445 could be part of a pattern which went 44556677 (although, I guess there's no reason why the pattern couldn't be 445445445, but this sort of test relies on intuitions to some extent). If A was put down as the answer, it would be possible to inductively reason what the next one would be based on a pattern of 445... Imo, anyway, it just seems logical. But I get what you're saying. There are other reasonable answers, and my reasoning for the number of dots does seem very sloppy, simplistic and superficial.

I'll revise my reasoning into something a bit more sensible. The reasoning could equally be that a black arrow pointing downwards on the previous pattern means remove a dot on the next pattern. If you spot that then you're still left with A. There are many plausible patterns to spot.

And I agree, it's a very stupid and ambiguous question.

Reply 14

Joinedup

Could be a psychometric angle to it - do you go for the number of dots as an independent variable or goverened by what is going on with the other shapes in the square?

Probably it's just a pass/fail and the best advice for a timed test would just be to not let it slow you down if you can't get an answer you're confident in a reasonable amount of time.

Reply 15

Cexy

Dirac Delta Function

I'd go for B, personally.

Up arrow means add dots, down arrow means remove them - White mean one dot, black means two.

This.

Reply 16

yodude888

It strikes me that this is a pretty ****** questions as you don't you really have enough information to be able to assume the white, black black repetition or understand where the 4,4,5 is coming from or going?

Reply 17

Cexy

Oh no another "inductive reasoning question is stupid" shocker. Yes, it's a stupid question. They all are.

But DDF's answer explains all aspects of the pattern in a simple and intuitive way. So it's probably right.

Reply 18

Mustard-man

Call me nuts, but I think it's D.

Ignore the up down pattern and consider every two item... A white arrow does nothing and a black arrow adds a dot.

- 1st, 3rd and 5th: white points up so dots don't change, black points up so a dot is added, giving the 5th item.
- 2nd, 4th and 6th: black points down so a dot is added, white points down so dots don't change and therefore it gives D.

This is the only thing I can justify and gives sufficient pattern (for me) to go on. Obviously the up-down-up-down pattern is a classic and the "real" answer is probably one of those A/C/E answers. Bloody **** question tbf.

Reply 19

Cexy

Jesus, do you guys not read?

The fact that the arrows point up/down (rather than left/right) gives you a MASSIVE hint and still you manage to ignore it. Incredible.