Math question supposed to reveal if someone is autistic

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This makes sense. NTs process input in real-time, which might lead them to get tripped up by a question like this.

People on the spectrum would also be wary of being humiliated by a "gotcha" question.

Admittedly, if an examiner sat me down and asked me to answer this question, I'd stare at them incredibly annoyed - and put something completely random down, like the truth was always in you, then I'd walk off.

I freaking hate questions like these. Why do I need to know the price of the ball? Surely if I wanted to just buy the ball, then I could look at the independent price? Why the mind games? Am I making sure they're not ripping me off? Do I not trust this hypothetical store?



What utter nonsense. I'm turning my piece of paper into an aeroplane and throwing it at you if you're going to ask me this. You've been warned.

So maybe autistic people are more likely to get the answer right. That's not the same as "all autistic people are right and all nonautistic people are wrong". It still doesn't reveal anything.

You're right, I should've read the article. "Utter BS" still holds.

Without reading the article, I first very glibly arrived at the answer that the ball cost 10c. But I checked it and saw that was wrong, so I did it more carefully:

Then I looked at the article. It seems I can do both system 1 and system 2 thinking, but possibly I tend to try system 1 first, and then if that fails, I switch to system 2.

It kind of fits. I'm very aware that I often get trapped in minute details, which gets tedious for self and others and wastes a lot of time, so (perhaps as a somewhat reconstructed Aspie) I often to go for the glib way of thinking as a first resort, and if that fails, I revert to the more detailed thinking style.

I had fairly good training in elementary mathematics, so I knew a bit about "simultaneous equations" - the exercise here is much like the questions they used to give us. It's not every day I need to know such things, so it took a bit of effort to recall the matter.

I don't believe it's diagnostic of ASD. I think it's diagnostic of having some kind of a flair for elementary mathematics.

I didn't click the button that said "continue reading" because I thought it might lead to tracking or a signup coercion, also because I've spent enough time on this matter as it is and I think I got all I need to know from the text before that button. It was kind of fun to get it right in the end. To a degree I like challenges and proving I can do things.

Took about 5 seconds to solve that. I think everybody I know can answer that correctly. Oh right, most people I know are related or similar to me. Although I think most autistics wouldn't be interested in ball or bat. If you switch the question to a cupcake and a cherry, people might try harder. And if the reward for answering correctly is a cupcake and a cherry, most people would try really hard.

My reaction to that sort of question is always suspicion that I'm being tricked somehow - it's like an invitation to make a fool of myself.

I don't know if that's anything to do with autism or just my own ego sending out distress signals.

Anyway, it gets in the way of me engaging directly with the maths of it, which is easy enough. When I engage with the question I can do it in my head and get it right.

But then I get annoyed with the unliklihood of the answer. I know the approximate value of a bat and a ball and the answer is completely unrealistic, both as individual items and in terms of their value relative to each other. .

And I wonder if that's why whoever posed the question chose those objects rather than two objects that are more likely to be worth those values.

Why not just say "Two items cost $1.10..."

Take the bat and ball out of the equation and it gets easier in my head.

Again, I'm wondering if the whole thing is designed to trip you up.

Maybe the test suggests autistic people are more suspicious and more likely to evaluate the question for pitfalls rather than just go for an answer?