Analytical Skills

Lateral vs. vertical thinking

The Human Brain

As we have seen earlier, two different sides of the brain, or hemispheres are responsible for different manners of thinking

Types of Thinking

Vertical vs Lateral

Vertical ThinkingLateral Thinking

•Looking for the right approach•Analytical•Sequential•Proceed if there is direction•One must be correct at each step•Use negative to block off certain pathways•Exclude what is irrelevant•Fixed categories or labels•Explore most likely paths•Is a finite process

•Looking for as many approaches as possible •Richness•Proceeds to generate direction•Is provocative•Can make jumps•One doesn’t have to be always correct•No negatives•Labels may change•Explore least likely paths•Is probabilistic

Lateral Thinking

Edward De Bono invented the term ‘Lateral Thinking’ in 1967.

Principles:– “You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging

the same hole deeper.”– “Lateral thinking is for changing concepts and

perceptions.”– “Problems are often not as complicated as they seem.”– “Let your thinking cut across both hemispheres of your

brain.”

How Can You Throw It?

How can you throw a ball with all your might, have it stop and then come back to you without the ball hitting any kind of wall or obstruction?

Trains A Train enters a tunnel at 7

o'clock, another train enters the exact same tunnel, also at 7 o'clock on the same day. The tunnel only has one track, and no other means for the trains to pass, around, over, or under. However both trains made it to the other end of the tunnel untouched. How could this be?

Lights Out

A woman was reading in a chair she

got tired and turned the light off and

went to bed. The next morning in the

newspaper she read that there was a ship wreck and 200 people had died, she then went and committed suicide.

Do you know why she committed suicide?

There are three light switches on a wall, one of

the switches controls a light upstairs, the other two switches control lights that you can not see. You can only go upstairs once. How do you figure out which light switch controls the light upstairs.

SwitchesThe Bill Gates quiz

Think…

There are 10 socks each of the following colors in a drawer: blue, green, red, white and yellow for a total of 50 socks. If the socks are randomly distributed in the drawer, and you are blindfolded, what is the minimum number of socks that you need to draw from the drawer in order to be certain you have at least 2 socks of the same color?

Think…

If you’re in the same situation as the preceding problem, how many socks must you draw from the drawer in order to be certain you have at least 2 socks of different colors?

Think…

If there are 4 empty seats in a theatre, how many permutations are there for the number of ways 4 people can sit in these seats?

What is represented by this Brain Bat?

TTTTTTIIIIIIIMMMMMMEEEEEE

ABDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Phone Numbers

There is a town in Texas where 5% of all the people living there have unlisted phone numbers. If you selected 100 names at random from the town's phone directory, on average, how many of these people would have unlisted phone numbers?

Grandma’s birthdayYou are on your way to visit your Grandma, who lives at the end of the valley. It's her birthday, and you want to give her the cakes you've made.

Between your house and her house, you have to cross 7 bridges, and as it goes in the land of make believe, there is a troll under every bridge! Each troll, quite rightly, insists that you pay a troll toll. Before you can cross their bridge, you have to give them half of the cakes you are carrying, but as they are kind trolls, they each give you back a single cake.

How many cakes do you have to leave home with to make sure that you arrive at Grandma's with exactly 2 cakes?

Water LilyIn the middle of a round pool lies a beautiful water-lily. The water-lily doubles in size every day. After exactly 20 days the complete pool will be covered by the lily.

After how many days will half of the pool be covered by the water-lily?

The Elevator A man lives on the 15th floor of an apartment block. Each

day he leaves his apartment to go to work. He calls the elevator and, once inside, presses the ground floor button. When he returns from work he calls the elevator from the ground floor, enters the elevator and presses the 10th floor button. At the 10th floor he gets out of the elevator and walks the final 5 floors up to his apartment. Can you explain why?

Desert WomanA woman is dead in the middle of the desert. She has a pack on her back. How did she die?

Blind Beggar

A blind beggar had a brother who died. What relation was the blind beggar to the brother who died? (Brother is not the answer).