How many F's are in this paragraph?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a puzzle that asks participants to count the occurrences of the letter "F" in a given paragraph. The conversation explores the cognitive challenges associated with this task, particularly how common words may lead to overlooked letters. The scope includes conceptual reasoning and personal experiences with the puzzle.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants report counting different numbers of "F's," with counts ranging from three to six.
  • Several participants note that the letter "F" in the word "of" is often overlooked, leading to incorrect counts.
  • One participant suggests that the brain may not register the word "of," causing people to miss the "F" in it.
  • Another participant mentions that the confusion may stem from the phonetic similarity between "F" and "V," particularly for non-native English speakers.
  • Some participants express surprise at their own ability to count correctly or incorrectly, indicating a personal cognitive experience with the puzzle.
  • There are humorous remarks about the nature of the mistake, with some participants joking about the reasons behind the oversight.
  • A few participants share their experiences of having seen similar puzzles before, noting that they still find them challenging.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the exact number of "F's" in the paragraph, with multiple competing views on the cognitive reasons behind the mistakes made in counting. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the underlying causes of the oversight.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention that their experiences with the puzzle may vary based on their language background or reading skills, which could influence their ability to count the letters accurately.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to those exploring cognitive psychology, language processing, or puzzles that challenge perception and attention.

Psi 5
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Count the number of times the letter F appears in the following paragraph. If you haven't seen this before you will probably get it wrong at least once. So you don't think it's a trick, count it more than once.

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

The answer is in white:
There are 6 F's

I don't know if this has been here before or not so don't flame me if it has.
 
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Hmmm... I only get three. Is this straightfoward?
 
I saw this before and even though I know how it works, it gets me every time!

The letter F in the word "of" is generally overlooked because it's such a common word. Tricky!
 
Jameson said:
Hmmm... I only get three. Is this straightfoward?

Yes, it is. There is no trick, they are in plain sight. I'll post later why you get it wrong. It's amazing actually. I saw another version of this a few months ago and found this one and even though I knew exactly what is going on I got it wrong the first time. I don't want to post yet why you get it wrong (and the answer I give is correct) because it helps a little but most people still can't count all the F's even after you know what to look for.
 
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Seen it, still gets me though.

It's kinda the same idea as "you can raed tihs sntencee as lnog as it has the crceort bgenining and end ltteres"
 
when i know the trick, i got through and count the hard f's first, then count the others.
 
Ok i got 4 fs am i right?




Galaxy...
 
he has the answer written in the first post...
 
I wonder why the human mind would have a tendency to ignore those f's in plain view. Is their an explanation for this puzzel?
-Scott
 
  • #10
scott_alexsk said:
I wonder why the human mind would have a tendency to ignore those f's in plain view. Is their an explanation for this puzzel?
-Scott

There are 6 Fs in there. The human brain tends to see "v" instead of "f" in the word 'of' thus people often disassociate them from the actual letter.
 
  • #11
Z-component offered the explanation that the letter F in the word "of" is generally overlooked because it's such a common word.

I was even going through each letter of every word saying them in my head, and skipped every "of," I am going with Z-component on this one.
 
  • #12
I first saw this puzzle 40 or so years ago. It got me then, it got me now.
 
  • #13
I've seen it before but with different words. I got all the F's when I read it now.
 
  • #14
I didn't know the trick, but I got all the F's! I don't know what's starnge about this. Once I saw the same thing in a test, again I got the right answer but I didn't read anything about the trick.
 
  • #15
Lisa! said:
I didn't know the trick, but I got all the F's! I don't know what's starnge about this. Once I saw the same thing in a test, again I got the right answer but I didn't read anything about the trick.

It must be that right brain working better then us macho types. On the other hand a 6 year old would probably have no trouble with this because they can't read well yet.
 
  • #16
I don't think it's mistaking an F for V. I was told that the brain doesn't see the word 'of' thus missing the F's in them. I guess this could be tested by having someone who hasn't seen it count the V's.
 
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  • #17
Psi 5 said:
It must be that right brain working better then us macho types. On the other hand a 6 year old would probably have no trouble with this because they can't read well yet.
You mean I'm 6 years old or perhaps I can't read well? :biggrin:
Partly kidding, I think you've mentioned a good point. I think I have no trouble with this, because En isn't my first language. In fact I'm somehow new to En and probably can't read it well. Of course I swear I pronounce "of" like you.:blushing:
 
  • #18
The answer must lie in how people learn how to speak English as a first language. To me v and f are pronouned very similarly. In German the letters are pronounced very differently. Perhaps since English was not your first language, your brain may have devolped a greater distinction between the two letters and when you learned English it seemed absurd to mix up the two. (By the way what is your first language.)
-Scott
 
  • #19
I got 6 F's. Of has an F in it people
 
  • #20
yeah i got six F's too ... i don't know what the fuss is all about
 
  • #21
Well it would not be much of a puzzel if most people got it right the first time. I am just speculating why we are so stupid.
-Scott
 
  • #22
Psi 5 said:
I don't think it's mistaking an F for V. I was told that the brain doesn't see the word 'of' thus missing the F's in them. I guess this could be tested by having someone who hasn't seen it count the V's.

hahhahah :smile: maybe they're not cross-eyed thus in mistake they see a 'v' instead of an 'f' or maybe they're blind coz they really did'nt see the word 'of' at all! :smile: :smile: :smile: (just jokin' man..:smile: )

its a COMMON MISTAKE while readin a sound-like letter or word where the actual letters are different... like the word 'of' which one might pronounce 'ov' thus one was thinkin about 'v' and not 'f'.

of course not everyone will read and think like that thus, some of us answered correctly. :wink:
 
  • #23
ok, you got me
 
  • #24
Wow! its true there are 6 Fs i could of sweared there were only 4.

That is kind of confusing.:confused:




Galaxy...
 
  • #25
It's amazing how many people got it right in this forum when no one seems to get it when you actually have it in front of them and they don't know the answer, hmmm.

I had the person that sent it to me originally resend it so I could post it here. After I got it I went through it to check the answer PURPOSELY looking for the 'of's and I STILL missed one the first couple of times. I wouldn't brag about getting it right the first try, it probably means your reading skills are less than average or you aren't telling the truth.
 
  • #26
I showed it to 3 people on the computer screen, none of them got all of the fs.
 
  • #27
Just because they do not get it wrong does not mean they are not as good at reading. As I said before possibly a person whom had a different first language or learned how to read differently may not make the mistake.
-Scott
 
  • #28
I am surprised that i got it right the first time i did it because i counted the f at the bottom as well!
 

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