Originally posted by TheMaster37
Some of us are very skilled in calculating polynomials...I wouldn't be surprised if there actually are people who can calculate them fast enough for an IQ test.
If I would start the sequence 3, 5, 7, ...
anyone claiming any skills in maths would have two possible answers ready. Same thing goes for the sequence 1, 2, 4, ...
These examples are e ...[text shortened]... if this works with simple number sequences, imagine what horrors await with picture sequences...
I agree. From a mathematical POV, 'what comes next' problems almost invariably provide insufficient information. For example, if I gave you '1,2,3,?' and didn't exclude the possibility of cubics, you could choose a cubic to justify
any value of the fourth term. Only if I insist on a polynomial of degree <3, or other similarly restrictive conditions, can you confidently reply '4'.
'What comes next' problems are actually one of the simplest examples of a 'mathematical empathy' test. The reason most people can solve them is that they have an implicit understanding that a relatively 'simple' answer is required, and must decide, among the various possibilities, which the question-setter would have thought of first. They probably require similar mental skills to the famous 'analogy' test: 'X is to Y as Z is to...', with arithmetic replacing an understanding of words. This doesn't make them invalid as IQ tests, but it means that they're testing slightly different skills than one might think.