Simple IQ test that asks just three questions

An IQ test that is made up of just three questions is taking the internet by storm.

The test was created by MIT professor Shane Frederick who has called it a 'Cognitive Reflection Test'. He administered the test to over 3,000 people and used the results in his research paper Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making.

The questions are:

1. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

2. If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?

3. In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?

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The most common, yet incorrect answers given, are:

1. 10 cents

2. 100 minutes

3. 24 days

"Anyone who reflects upon it for even a moment would recognise that the difference between $1 and 10 cents is only 90 cents, not $1 as the problem stipulates," Professor Frederick explains in the paper.

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"In this case, catching that error is tantamount to solving the problem, since nearly everyone who does not respond '10 cents' does, in fact, give the correct response."

The correct answers are:

1. 5 cents

2. 5 minutes

3. 47 days

If you didn't land on the correct answers, don't despair. Professor Frederick said 83 percent of people failed.

"The three items on the CRT are 'easy' in the sense that their solution is easily understood when explained, yet reaching the correct answer often requires the suppression of an erroneous answer that springs 'impulsively' to mind," he explains in the paper.