It's irrelevant how many were shot (I still say, only one, if you're a good shooter). The question was:
How many blackbirds remained (by the way, you're missing the question mark, don't they know how to write a proper question at Mensa?)

So, the answer is: none. All the rest is irrelevant.

The answer is....... A DUCK!

sorry....couldn't help it....

I don't think I should have started this, will know better next time

Sorry, but every time I hear (or read) the word MENSA, my skin crawls...

Hate those snobs.

Considering I took that test and became a member of my local MENSA group, I think that I have just been insulted

But I can take it

OK, here's my question then: why?

Anyway, as long as you don't start parading along here with a proud superiority, I shouldn't give you any problem. Just keep in mind a few things:
- True intelligence cannot be tested
- Most intelligent people do not belong to Mensa or any other group
- Intelligence is only one of many human attributes, and by no means the better one

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I agree with all the above statements Paxx, thanks for the reminder, and all is well, I try not to flaunt what intelligence I have, which is minor compared to some.

/me took the 4 and 20 blackbirds and baked them in a pie.

Hoppity: congratulations!
paxx: what MENSA member pissed in your cornflakes? remember 3 things:
True Intelligence can be tested, just not through paper tests.
Most intelligent people belong to some group, be it a family, a race, a politcal entity, or even a club.
Hatred and fear are 2 of the worst human attributes.

I agree with paxx, after the first shot and all are gone. 0 remain after you shoot the 7 (assuming you did it with one shotgun blast).

Too many implicit assumptions to give any valid answer. The only way to find out what really happens is to go out and try it.

Cavanaugh:
- Intelligence cannot be defined, let alone tested. So, what is intelligence? The number of synapses in your brain?
- Let me rephrase that: most intelligent people do not belong to an elitist group claiming its members are the most intelligent.

I hate the principle behind MENSA, just as I would hate any group that would claim to be superior to others. I despise people who think they are better than others because of any reason : the size of their muscle, the colour of their skin or their ability to give the expected answer to some questions on a test.

noooooo.... it is more of a math problem then a riddle. and if it is a riddle it is not a good test question.

??? ok lets try that again



I would go with the math. if he shot 1/7 of all the birds then what remain alive is whatever remains after the 1/7th was shot. Nothin in the question (from what I read) says how many stayed on the tree or who remained to sit there and get shot.




simple math. I guess you could say none remained... at the scene, because the surviving birds flew away.

But if this was on a regents exam, or a SAT it would have been all about the math.

But since this is a IQ test, I have no idea what it means.

If it was a joke, then it is a good joke. The birds flew away silly. No bird remain!

wait... they claim what? maybe some of them, but the whole organization?

anyway... what happens if you have an IQ of 200?

people seem to be missing that 7th were shot, not remaining, so

24 remain

If my IQ was 230, what would that mean?




and yes I think the subject of the question is about what bird got shot and how many birds did not.


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Paxx: - True intelligence cannot be tested
- Most intelligent people do not belong to Mensa or any other group
- Intelligence is only one of many human attributes, and by no means the better one


This is a typical answer given by those who cannot pass the test

Hoppity: I took that test and became a member of my local MENSA group

A fine achievement. However, the first thing to learn is not to tell anyone, they always react badly

Fuzzy, I know I'm intelligent. I need no test or organisation to reassume me in my self-confidence.

I find the idea of MENSA as ridiculous as a club that would test how much you can lift on a bench-press. 200 pounds and over and you're admited.

Yeah, it makes as much sense as that.

is that why you make such great skins fuzzy???



just kidding ya...

I agree with paxx on some points about intellegence and the fact (since 1970's I believe) that studies have shown there are multipul intellegences not just 2 or 1( memorization and reading/math type stuff).

I believe there are 7 at the moment. I think IQ tests are suppossed to engage those intellegences but it would seem that most focus on 2.

wish I could remember what I studied. It was years ago as a student teacher.

as far as groups are conserned there are plenty of groups, civilizations, towns, teams, clubs, etc.. etc...

------------------------------

Still I think this question is about math. not about other factors of a real world situation of birds taking flight ofter the gun shot (none remain) or all the birds surviving (all leave) or a chain reaction of exploding carcass makes the birds who fly away so scared the die from excitment ( ). It is about how many did not get shot and how many didn't.


depending on your background, culture, and even what time in history you live in, the answer can be different. its is all how you see it. the 7 intellegences gives a way of adressing those issues of culture, background and time.

"However, the first thing to learn is not to tell anyone, they always react badly "

Apparently there are 3 people here who haven't learned their very first lesson well, depite their superior intelligence.

The cult of intelligence can be very dangerous. There was a movement that claimed that anybody under a certain IQ should be castrated in order to leave only the most intelligent people to procreate and therefore improve the humain species.  Not too different from the idea of the "perfect" race of the Arien people.

That's why I really frown upon any group that claims their superiority. The step isn't too big from there to the above paragraph.

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I don't recall anyone mentioning superior intelligence