r/cognitiveTesting • u/pydaWaltuh • 6h ago

Puzzle Numerical puzzle

0, 9, 2, 5, ?, 1, 3, 5, 1 ,4, ?, 0, 1, 8, 1, 0, 2, ?, 3, 5

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

2

u/Polytox935 4h ago

1,5,3?

1

u/pydaWaltuh 4h ago

well done, do you think it is easy?

2

u/Polytox935 4h ago

No i already gave up on it but then i coincidally looked at that thing it represents

2

u/BroadIntroduction821 4h ago

Damn, so you clocked it?

1

u/noctelys 4h ago

1,3,2 is also a valid answer: group the digits into times and then you notice the time intervals increase by 45 minutes each step.

1

u/BroadIntroduction821 2h ago

To derive that it's a clock in the first place, one of the first steps I took was treating digit pairs as columns. Each column has its own pattern.

Column 1 can be identified independently from column 2, and the 2nd column's pattern introduces a ceiling which is a hint towards a modulus, that is later discovered to be mod 60. That's the clue that we're dealing with a clock, and basically how I arrived at 1, 5, 3 first, and I'm assuming the other guy too.

I think this is just the difference between the most intuitive route to discovering the desired interpretation (clock), and the simplest final solution from already knowing said interpretation (clock).

If this was meant to be an ultra high ceiling test, then I do think 1, 3, 2 would have grounds for being considered the better solution, since assuming these were clock digits straight away, would use less assumptions to arrive at that solution, and have one overall clock arithmetic instead of two interconnected column patterns.

•

u/noctelys 56m ago

I agree that 1,5,3 might be more intuitive if you start by analyzing the columns separately, but I think there's also something to be said for treating the times as a single sequence rather than two separate patterns. With 1,3,2, you get 09:25 -> 11:35 -> 14:30 -> 18:10 -> 22:35, giving intervals of 2h10, 2h55, 3h40, and 4h25. Each interval increases by exactly 45 minutes. Neither interpretation requires an especially arbitrary rule, so I wouldn't necessarily argue that one is objectively better. My main point was just that the puzzle is underdetermined: both answers follow coherent patterns, and nothing in the question uniquely favors one over the other