Count the Fs

[Lobsang]

From e-mail. Those that have encountered it before, no spoiling.

COUNT every "F" in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...
HOW MANY ?

SPOILER:

3?

WRONG, THERE ARE 6 -- no joke.

READ IT AGAIN !

The brain cannot process "OF".

Incredible or what? Go back and look again!!
Anyone who counts all 6 "F's" on the first go is a genius.
Three is normal, four is quite rare.

[Absolute]

I'm a genius.

[astro]

Ya got me...and I was so careful to count the F's!

[Gadfly]

Wow.. That was.. Not surprising at all. I got all six.

[Ephemera]

I got five. Apparently, I'm almost, but not quite, a genius.

I knew that already.

[Lobsang]

I got 3. But isn't it amazing how a relatively simple challenge can fool so many people? And it does, apparently.

[Rhiannon8404]

Well, I counted 3, but I kept thinking it was too easy and that couldn't possibly be right. So I was wrong about it being three, and right that it was too easy.

[emekthian]

I counted 7.

I have no idea how I did that.

[Quartz]

I got 6.

[Merkwurdigliebe]

I got six the first try and I am not a genius.

So the test is flawed.

No really, I thought it was common sense that there was going to be some trick, so I figured it out the second time I read the first line.

But if you were to flash each line only once for a certain period of time I guess that might hold true.

[Lobsang]

200 views. Lets say about 75% of those are first time views.

If you viewed the thread, took the test, and got 6 you are highly likely to post. If you took the test and got 3 you are quite likely to be amongst those 150 or so who didn't post.

So I'd say there's a high proportion of poeple counting 3.


Just saying.



Also the Fs seem clearer in a vbulletin thread than they did in a messy e-mail full of '>'s




Has anyone seen the similar test where you've got to count how many times a group of people throw a ball at each other. Then someone plays tells you that a man in a gorilla suit walked right through the middle of the group. And then the footage is replayed. Most people didn't spot the man in the gorilla suit.

[Johnny L.A.]

That's it?

I counted the correct number of Fs the first time. Thinking there was some sort of trick, I counted again. And again. Six every time. So I CNTL-F'd the Fs and still counted six.

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

That's it?

I counted the correct number of Fs the first time. Thinking there was some sort of trick, I counted again. And again. Six every time. So I CNTL-F'd the Fs and still counted six.

bugger. I didn't realize people could cheat.



Apparently it works better in an e-mail. I counted 3. My intelligent step-father counted 3, my mother counted 3. And the thing it'self implies that most people count 3. But after having already posted it here it's apparent that it's easier to count six in the clear, clutter free space of a vbulletin post.


Either that or you really are all Geniuses.

I am a lowly of-misser.

[Patty O'Furniture]

I'm pretty sure I see 27.

[Johnny L.A.]

bugger. I didn't realize people could cheat.

I didn't cheat. Just checked my results using a readily available tool after the fourth counting.

[Marley23]

I thought there might be a trick too. I counted three times. 6, 6, 6.

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

I didn't cheat. Just checked my results using a readily available tool after the fourth counting.

I know you didn't cheat. You said you used ctrl-f after you counted. You just reminded me of a way of cheating.

[astro]

Originally Posted by Marley23

I thought there might be a trick too. I counted three times. 6, 6, 6.

The polymorphemic, psycholinguistic visual processing illusion of the THE BEAST!!!

[Otto]

Bah. I got more Fs than that every quarter on my report card.

[Little Nemo]

You should have put O's in front of them so your parents' brains couldn't process them.

6 for 6.

[pokey]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

You should have put O's in front of them so your parents' brains couldn't process them.

6 for 6.

That's the best joke I ever read on this board.


I counted 6 but only because I recounted 3 times. The first time I counted 4 and the second time I counted 5.

I still feel good about myself though.

[Ruby]

Well, I've seen this before and STILL only counted 4.

[percypercy]

I only counted five. Apparently at some point my geniusness runs out.
-Lil

[davidm]

Am I the only one who thought that this was a trick question and that the answer was going to be something like:

There's only one "F" in "the following text".

[noname]

I am a genius

[calm kiwi]

Lobsang you are not alone I only saw 3 and I counted twice. I blame it on the last glass of wine.

It is is no suprise that I am not a genius.

[don't ask]

I wrote a program to count the Fs.

There are 93.

[Tiggrkitty]

I counted 6 the first time, and thinking there must be a trick recounted.

[monica]

What? I'm supposed to be a genius??? I think the test is a bit flawed...

[AngelicGemma]

I got 4. I'm going to try again...

[AngelicGemma]

I got 6 the second time. Ha! No piece of text is going to out smart me!

[SPOOFE]

I counted 7, but I'm still a little cross-eyed from oggling the 3D ladies in that other thread...

[slortar]

I counted 5. N's, that is.

_{I'm such a rebel.}