JovialJman - The Thought Process (Thoughts And Ideas)

"A whole lot of sings on a board are like our thoughts right? or is it just me?" - JovialJman

We as humans tend to link ideas to help us through life. This linking of ideas is part of the creative process to learning, and everything else. Let's talk about that.

The train of thought, is a term people use to illustrate the thought process and the way we think. Often it can be derailed, lost, hijacked and have it revers course. When it is derailed, something has occurred as to make you think about something completely different, and then there is no chance of getting back on track, any time soon. When it is lost, your mind has wandered and just forgotten about the thought, again, hard to get back onto track. Others may have highjack your train of thought by asking you questions and talk about stuff that pertains to you, but this case it is still able to continue onwards afterwards. When your train of thought has reversed its course, you are just going to end up where you started with no real progress.

There is an old myth that you are either right brained or left brained. This is just a myth though, as when thinking about logical things, or being creative you will use both sides of the brains, so unless you have had half of your brain removed, you cannot be left or right brained. This phrase came about when testing on rats. they were able to restrict the communication of one half of the rats brain with the other, then studied them to see how they performed. They saw that those who tried to figure out the maze (analytical) used more of the left side of the brain whereas those that tried to work around it,(creative) use more of the right.

When linking ideas, your brain talks with so many other parts, that there is no sign that one type of thinking is in a specific spot, however, there are cases like speech are more often found to be in the left side of the brain, but that does not mean that everything to do with talking is located there. The brain is a very complicated thing to try and understand.  Everyone's brain is slightly different to everyone else's, which can be seen in the way we perceive things as well as the way we think about them. 

When thinking of items such as names, our brains tend to filter all that it deems irrelevant, which in some cases may actually be what you are looking for. Have you ever tried to recall something, you know it but it just won't come to you? this is your brain trying to help you, but inturn does the opposite. Once you have dropped the subject, your mind no longer blocks the answer and your subconscious may pull it through to your conscious thoughts, that is why you often get the things you were looking for after the subject has changed.

Some of the best ideas people have gotten have come to them when they were in the shower/bath. this is because of the break that your mind needs, like mentioned earlier, and partly because of their dopamine levels. the dopamine in your body allows creativity to flow a bit more easily. this because of the way it reacts in the brain and around the body. When taking a hot shower it is indicated to rise those levels of dopamine, which in turn allows the creative juices to flow.

Anyways, have you enjoyed this little rambling of mine, or do you have somethings you would like to contribute, please let us know down in the comments, on Facebook or over on Twitter, as us here at TSCA love to hear from each and everyone of you. Are there any people you know who likes to know a lot or would find stuff like this interesting, please share it with them as I am sure they will appreciate it. If you would like to see new posts as the are published, or would just like to show us your support, please follow us on Facebook and like us on Twitter, (... wait ... reverse that), using the associated buttons on the bar to the left. I hope you have/had an epic day, and I shall write again overmorrow.

Happy thinking buddies.

JovialJman - Patterns and Logic

This genial gentleman of jovial disposition to the left is Derek Muller, as seen in this YouTube video.

Logic is defined as reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity. While that might sound somewhat complex, people typically use this in their day to day lives in order to ascertain information that they cannot obtain by other means. However, not everyone is entirely aware of the principles behind it. Lets talk about that.

Number patterns are something that should be able to be deduced by logic, as long as you ask the right questions. In the Veritasium YouTube video Can You Solve This?, Derek Muller spoke to various people and gave them 3 numbers which follow a simple rule. He then asked these people to try and figure out what this rule is by proposing any set of 3 numbers to which Derek would confirm whether or not these additional sets followed the same rule. The numbers he started with were "2, 4, 8"; and most people thought the pattern was simply the multiplying of the previous number by 2, and so proposed 3 more numbers that followed what they believed to be the rule and then declared the rule to be such, only for Derek to tell them that it wasn't the rule. Only after he told them that they should rather try to get new information, did people start to propose sets of numbers that did not follow what they believed was the rule, thereby aiding them in finding the answer.

There was a couple that thought it was the first number to a rising power and followed their rule from there onwards which again all agreed with Derek's rule. Now his rule was any number in ascending order, which people wouldn't guess until they found 3 numbers that didn't follow that rule, ie. where one or more numbers were less than the number that came before it. The problem here is that people like to confirm what they believe rather then try and disprove it by seeking out new information. The exception to the rule being people such as Mathematicians and Scientists, who go out and try to disprove their theories and only when they cannot do so, do they think that they might be onto something.

In a separate case; if a man buys a ball and bat for R1.10 and the bat is R1 more than the ball, how much did the ball cost? This is a question that a few people get wrong. Try and guess the answer before carrying on. Now the reason people get this wrong is it isn't as straightforward as most people initially believe. The most common answer is the ball will cost 10c but this is wrong. If the ball is 10c and the bat is R1 more than the ball, then the bat will cost R1.10 and the total price will be R1.20 which is not what it actually costs. It is rather counterintuitive and thereby commonly works against common logic. (Wikipedia has good way to explain this and has other examples).

The logical way to find the problem is to go at it like this. If the total price of the 2 objects is R1.10 and one object is R1 more, then you subtract it from the total thus giving 10c, (this is where most people stop). Now since there are 2 objects, you must divide what is left by 2 giving 5c. So the ball will be 5c and the bat will be 5c plus the R1 giving R1.05. Add the 2 together and you get the original R1,10.

In yet another case while at my friend Clinton's house, he proposed a puzzle for me to solve. The pattern was as follows, "1,3,5,4,4"; "2,3,5,4,4"; "3,5,4,4"; "4,4,4"; "5,4,4,4"; "6,3,5,4,4"; "7,5,4,4" and so on. The 4 is recurring is in all cases. This was the information I started with, (well only the first one then since I didn't get anywhere he gave 4 more.). Now he did say that he would continue the pattern if I needed help but I tried to see how far I could get at first.

So I started to see what number patterns I could find. There was the 4 that came on and repeated, and 5 always lead to a 4 and 3 always leads to a 5. But that alone didn't yield a pattern the other numbers would follow. This is where Clinton said I should try think outside of the box or something to that affect. So I tried to see if I could see a pattern in the shapes of the numbers themselves, like a straighter number will lead to a curvy shape or something like that. But again I wasn't able to see anything conclusive.

Now OddballGreg tried to confuse me here and said a new pattern, A hundred, 8, 5, 4, 4, and Clinton said One hundred is actually 100,10,3,5,4,4 and this was the biggest clue so I started to think why they each said something different with the same number. Then I realized that it is spelled differently which lead to the conclusion that it is the amount of letters in the number. That is how I went about trying to deduce the answer from a rather simple pattern using logic but it is again somewhat counterintuitive.

Anyways, did you like how I solved that sequence, or did you get all of them right straight away yourself, if you did please let us know down in the comments below, or over Facebook/Twitter. If you know of someone who is a know it all and enjoys thinking, share this with them as I am sure they would like it. If you would like to see posts as they are published then please like us on the official TCSA Facebook page or follow us on Twitter with the associated buttons on the left. Thank you for reading and I hope you have/had an entertaining day. Speak again soon.

Be logical Buddies.