Would be nice to have the units for each question on top. Or in the input boxes themselves. I was on mobile and had to scroll down to see it. Mixing raw numbers and units of billions was confusing as well. There were definitely questions like the one about volume where I had no idea what a cubic mile really was conceptually (as opposed to a liter or something).
Regardless, reading about the study and comparing my own results was interesting.
I wonder if the inputs could be done using a slider given you are always selecting a range, that would be more intuitive.
4/10 overall, good reminder that we always have to double check. So easy to be wrong even when giving outrageously wide estimates
I never realized how absolutely massive a blue whale can be!
Your estimate:
10,000 to 25,000 cubic miles
Correct answer:
22,684 cubic miles
Uhhhh... pretty sure I was right and it marked it wrong.
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Also, I think that marking answers right or wrong is the incorrect way to measure this. By deeming it right or wrong, you are making it trivia rather than estimation.
For instance, I estimated that Alexander the Great was born between 300 BCE and 100 BCE, it was marked wrong but the right answer is 356 BCE. That is a fairly accurate estimation still.
You should get rid of the Buzzfeed-esque "number people got right" and move towards measuring mean percent off from the correct answer so you could say like "Most people are within 30% of the right answer" or something like that. You should also make it where you can't game it by doing something like 0 to 100,000,000,000,000,000 and being told you are right: https://i.imgur.com/Ysnz1gr.png ;)
more_corn•3mo ago