how cool I had no problem reading at all.

Juditha:

Supposedly most people count three.  People run into difficulty because their mind misses the word "OF." I know my mind missed it, because I also counted 3.

Regarding the duck thing:
2 ducks (1 duck in front of 1 duck)  +  2  ducks (1 duck behind 1 duck) + 1 (the duck inbetween the 2 sets of 2 ducks) = 5 ducks.

I've heard that if we can't pass these sort of mental tests, we aren't allowed into heaven. Just kidding! Just kidding! 


Quote:

Hi there, thanks for the mindplays.

The problem (for me it was) lies within "a duck", for me at first it looked like:
D (the one in front of "a duck" )
D (one duck in the middle, seen as the "a duck" (lol) which has one duck in front and behind it)
D (the one behind "a duck")

So the "a duck" (sounds stupid to write it like this  ) was seen as the one duck in the middle, what leads to the conclusion : there have to be three ducks.
I think the mind mixes it up, because there are three in five ducks, that have a clear description (they have a "place to be") , in the front, in the middle and behind, and we completely forget (or do not even mind) that "a duck" could be any duck, let's say around a lake (their natural "home" )
In fact, the mind concentrates more on the word "ONE" > "there is ONE duck in front "a duck", ONE duck behind "a duck" and ONE in the middle >ONE in front + ONE behind + ONE in the middle makes three.
It seems really like the ONE makes the mind paying more attention on the ducks wich are described as "ONE duck", so "a duck", that could be really any duck from whereever it may be, kind of "vanishes". The ONE gives three out of five ducks kind of a personalisation, the two ducks, that have the description "a duck" are not seen as very important, the mind makes one of the two "a duck"s and combines it with the ONE duck in the middle, because the "a duck" has not a place like the ones, that are described as "ONE duck". > ONE in front of "a", ONE behind "a", and ONE in the middle, > so "a duck" is seen as the ONE in the middle.

D (ONE duck in front of "a duck")  (I hope it helps to understand my weird interpretation of the failure..)
D ("a duck")
D (ONE duck in the middle)
D ("a duck")
D (One duck behind "a duck")

Now I confused myself, hopefully not anyone of you

swim with the ducks...

pulsar

As I see it, the answer to the duck question can be both 3 and 5. It depends on how you choose to read it. And since it can be both 3 and 5, it can easily be 7, 9, 11, and so on. A trick question, for sure.