# Count every ' F ' in the following text: How many are there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 8, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059 "2009-06-08T02:12:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/1 "2009-06-08T02:12:44Z")
Count every ’ F ’ in the following text: FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS… How many do you count? Click on spoiler box below for the answer. How many F’s? … No, there are 6, read it again. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/2 "2009-06-08T02:14:24Z")
So weird…how do I miss it the first time ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/3 "2009-06-08T02:14:24Z")
Uh… That’s what I got. What did you assume I got? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/4 "2009-06-08T02:14:52Z")
I don’t get it. The answer I came up with was the same one in your spoiler box. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/5 "2009-06-08T02:17:03Z")
We’ve done this one several times previously, though it’s next to impossible to search for. The upshot is some study found people tend to overlook some or all of the Fs in the occurrences of the word “of” and therefor undercount. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/6 "2009-06-08T03:01:11Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > We’ve done this one several times previously, though it’s next to impossible to search for. The upshot is some study found people tend to overlook some or all of the Fs in the occurrences of the word “of” and therefor undercount. I completely missed the “OF” F’s in my initial readings of the sentence. It’s like they didn’t even exist, and I was\* looking \*for them. It’s interesting how your mind scans text when reading. It really is more of a sort of a mental gestalt process than a linear “read” of the text. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/7 "2009-06-08T03:03:31Z")
You didn’t say to read the line of text, but to count the Fs. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/8 "2009-06-08T03:11:42Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > You didn’t say to read the line of text, but to count the Fs. Oh I was looking for and counting the F’s and missed them when they were attached to the OF’s. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/9 "2009-06-08T03:12:59Z")
I didn’t read the words. I scanned the string for Fs. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/10 "2009-06-08T03:13:50Z")
It appears to be a shortened version of [this exercise](http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/cause/interactive/examples/18173.html) which is intended to demonstrate the difficulty in obtaining accurate data under pressure. Unfortunately, many websites have taken it and distilled it down to the version in the OP and frequently conclude with some variant of the ridiculous claim that the human brain cannot process the word “of.” ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/11 "2009-06-08T03:14:18Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Count every ’ F ’ in the following text: > > FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS… > > How many do you count? Click on spoiler box below for the answer. > > How many F’s? … No, there are 6, read it again. Got 6… ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/12 "2009-06-08T04:24:33Z")
I teach phonics to little kids, and always point out that “of” breaks the rules, what with an “o” which sounds like a “u”, and an “f” which disguises itself with a “v” sound. So it didn’t get me. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/13 "2009-06-08T04:29:37Z")
I’ve heard this used as a demonstration of being left or right brain dominant - if you’re left brained and vocal you read it in your head and “of” sounds like “uv” and doesn’t register as an F, whereas if you’re right brained you visually look for the F so you count it. Edit: It’s probably BS. Strangely, I knew what the gimmick was, and quickly visually scanned the sentence and still got 3 because I ignored “of” - weird. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/14 "2009-06-08T04:41:21Z")
So you’re saying I’m in my right mind? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fantome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Fantome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fantome)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/15 "2009-06-08T04:55:50Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > We’ve done this one several times previously, though it’s next to impossible to search for. [Google Search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22FINISHED+FILES%22+site%3Astraightdope.com&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=) ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/16 "2009-06-08T05:32:35Z")
> [@Fantome](#): > > [Google Search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22FINISHED+FILES%22+site%3Astraightdope.com&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=) Nice. Good to know. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/17 "2009-06-08T08:27:38Z")
There are 7 . . . 6 in the line typed in all caps, and 1 in the next line. (It says “in the following text,” not “in the following line.”) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/18 "2009-06-08T19:01:28Z")
My answer ranged from 6 to 10 depending on how I interpreted the instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/19 "2009-06-08T19:04:43Z")
I got five - I missed the last “of.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059/20 "2009-06-08T19:41:20Z")
I got 9 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-every-f-in-the-following-text-how-many-are-there/499059.md?page=2)