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Intelligence vs. Intuition

By Peter Lloyd

I asked a number of very clever people to take a simple intuition test of my own devising.

"Which is greater," I asked, "the cube root of five or the square root of three?"

Along with the highly educated, including an Erdős 1 mathematician—I also asked a bunch of ordinary folks.

My hypothesis: the intuition of the mathematically inclined should top that of the average person.

I've always been fascinated by intuition. It's absolutely essential to innovation, invention, and creativity. But what is it? How does it work? How well does it work?

Is it rooted in knowledge? If so, wouldn't someone steeped in math, fluent in its permutations, offer a superior intuitive response to a simple math problem that, nevertheless, could not calculated on the spot?

You'd think so. However, many of life's ventures end up taking you not to where you set out to go but somewhere unexpected. That's what happened with this quick experiment.

Before I tested each subject, you should know, I prepped them with, "I don't want you to calculate, even if you could. Just guess. What is your hunch?"

Folks like you and me quickly made mental estimates. Their guesses, I suppose, arose from their experience with numbers, their understanding of roots, and a feel for what size number would generate a three, for example, when doubled versus what it would take to make a five when multiplied twice.

Before I guessed, I remember mentally manipulating little blocks that represented quantities. An engineer I questioned made a couple of quick interpolations before guessing.

But the most highly educated, including the Edős 1 mathematician, absolutely refused to take a guess. The more I encouraged, the deeper they dug their heels.

"I'm trying to compare the intuition of math geniuses to those of everyday people," I pleaded to no avail.

"It doesn't matter if you're right or wrong..." No deal.

"Please, just tell me which feels bigger..." Nope.

"I promise not to tell a soul if your guess is wrong..." Sorry.

My sample is shallow, but allow me to propose an insight. Just a hunch, mind you, but here it is: The high-level scientist's dedication and devotion to accuracy makes it impossible to pronounce an untruth. It's like asking a priest to divulge a confession.

My next challenge, the correlation between that ability to dance and do long division.

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.
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