Please Don't Revoke My Asian Card

There is a new study out that (correctly) claims that those with an analytical brain (v. the intuitive brain) are more likely to have the ability to question (their) religion and thus join the Mighty Team Atheist (not really, that is what I said. anyhoo...). I might comment on the study later, but first...let's git our math on.

Yessss sir-y folks, howz about some Saturday afternoon math (I'm bored at my weekend job, so WTF). One of the experiments that those cool scientists came up with to determine if you have an analytical brain or a intuitive brain is this...

A baseball bat and a baseball costs $1.10 together, total. The bat is $1 more than the ball,  sooooo kind gentle and very goodlooking readers (who are all know it all skeptics), how much does the ball cost.

If you answered 10 cents then you are a loser and have an intuitive believers brain. If you answered that the ball is 5 cents then you have that awesome analytical atheist brain (I didn't). So WTF.

In this study the intuitive brain is a "gut feeling" "off the top of my head" kinda thing. Without thinking about it one (pretty much everyone) thinks the total is $1.10, something costs $1 more than the other, so subtract $1 from $1.10 and 10 cents is left over, right. no, that is the kingdom called Wrongdom.

The analytical awesome atheist brain doesn't "shoot from the hip" and say the first thing (which is what I did). The analytical brain will go all Spock and automatically crunch numbers and scenarios in that wonderful evolved human brain. Instead of shooting from the hip, the atheist brain calm, cool, calculative and very charming as it is, gets down with the, err, analytics ish stuffs-n-such.

What the peeps that conducted the study claim, and I believe this to be correct, is that if you have an analytical brain then you are more likely to have the tools to question your religion and that leads to...da da daaaaa, Team Atheist, yo.

Don't feel bad, I had to look up the answer...and I'm Asian.

The ball has to cost $0.05, and the bat has to cost $1.05 because 

A. $1.05 + $0.05 = $1.10 

AND 

B. $1.05 - $0.05 = $1.00 

It is common for people who do not think through the problem to respond with $0.10, but this is incorrect because 

C. Although $1.00 + $0.10 = $1.10, 

D. $1.00 - $0.10 = $0.90, which is not $1.00 more, as required by the problem. 

To solve the problem with algebra, it would look something like this: 

Set up the equation: 
x + ($1.00 + x) = $1.10 

Collect like terms: 
$1.00 + 2x = $1.10 

Subtract $1.00 from each side of the equation to isolate the variable, x: 
2x = $0.10 

Solve for x: 
x = $0.05 

Check your work: 
x + ($1.00 + x) = $1.10, so 
$0.05 + ($1.00 + $0.05) = $1.10 

Do the arithmetic: 
$1.10 = $1.10, so the solution is valid.


* Wiki math

* The sometimes good, but not that often CNN Belief Blog.