This one is somewhat surprising. 1. READ this sentence: FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE- SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF- IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS. 2. Now count aloud the F's in that sentence. Count them only ONCE, How many F's are in that sentence above? Answer: There are six F's in the sentence. Many people forget the Ofs. The human brain tends to see them as "V"s instead of "F"s. Reference: Martin Gardner; Puzzles from other worlds, Woods End, 1981 Problem 15: SF and F in the 55th Street (german: Denkspiele von anderen Planeten, Hugendubel, 1986) R. L. Goodwin; in: E. Haldeman-Julius, Problems, Puzzles and Brain-teasers, Girard 1937, p18-19 Anatoly Kalinin; The annual puzzle party, Series: toys corner, Quantum 4:6 (July/August 1994) 56-57 Figure 1: puzzle of Mike Green - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Goodwin's F Puzzle: Read the sentence directly below: THE FEDERAL NATIONAL FUSES ARE THE RESULT OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS. Now, count the F in the sentence above. Only once, though! Don't go back and count them again. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mike's F Puzzle: How's Your Brain? Read the sentence directly below: GREAT FUN FOR PEOPLE OF ALL AGES - TRY PUZZLETTS POCKET PUZZLES(TM) - HAND MADE OF BRASS AND FINE WOOD. Now, count the F in the sentence above. Only once, though! Don't go back and count them again. How's Your Brain? Read the sentence aloud: /\ / \ / \ / ONCE \ / IN A \ /A LIFETIME\ /____________\ Are you sure you read that correctly? Try a little slower this time. Now once more just to be sure. Did you catch the second A? Most people see two A's, but only achnowledge one. The brain automatically omits the second A because only one A is required to complete the sentence. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From - Tue Aug 18 21:10:37 1998 From: maddscott@aol.com (Maddscott) Newsgroups: rec.puzzles Subject: Read this sentence... Ob-solution: Only one "F" in that sentence above!! As the sentence above is: <> -- http://www.mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de/~sillke/ mailto:Torsten.Sillke@uni-bielefeld.de