Problem
Infer the hidden sorting rule
Six panels each show two shapes together and ask 'Is it a Mimi?'. The first five panels answer No, Yes, No, No, Yes. Find the hidden rule and answer the sixth panel.
Reasoning · Grade 2-1 Classification and Criteria
Your answer
Watch out A rule like 'a Mimi has a triangle' is tempting but fails on one of the five examples. The rule is whether the two outlines cross.
How to solve
Strategy Look for a Pattern — We compare the Yes pictures against the No pictures to spot what they have in common (a pattern / hidden rule), rule out guesses that fail on any example, then apply the surviving rule to panel 6.
1STEP 1
Compare the Yes pictures
In both Yes pictures the outlines never cross.
Yes: outlines do not cross
Putting the Yes pictures side by side makes their shared feature pop out: no crossing lines.
K.G.B.4Look For A Pattern2STEP 2
Check it against the No pictures
All three No pictures overlap and cross, so the rule is no crossing.
No: outlines cross → rule = 'shapes do not cross'
A correct rule must split the examples perfectly; 'shapes do not cross each other' marks exactly the two Yes pictures and none of the No pictures.
K.G.B.4Eliminate PossibilitiesA guessed rule is only correct if it marks every Yes picture and not a single No picture.
Why?
The Yes pictures are exactly the ones that carry the hidden property, so whatever is true of the whole Yes group has to be true of each one of them.
🧱Members of a subset inherit the group's propertiesIf every A is a B, then anything true of all B is automatically true of every A — a square inherits whatever holds for all rectangles.
Why?
A single No picture that the rule would have marked is enough to prove the rule wrong, which is why the No side must be checked too.
🧱One counterexample refutes an always-claimA claim about every case dies the moment you exhibit one case where it fails, and exhibiting is easier than arguing.
3STEP 3
Apply the rule to panel 6
In panel 6 the pentagon and circle cross, so it is not a Mimi.
pentagon ∩ circle outlines cross → not a Mimi
The pentagon and circle overlap like the No pictures, so panel 6 is a No.
K.G.B.4Draw A DiagramAnswer
No
outlines cross, so not a Mimi
The rule 'a Mimi = two shapes that do not cross (one inside the other or just touching)' reproduces every given answer: panel 1 cross = No, panel 2 inside = Yes, panel 3 cross = No, panel 4 cross = No, panel 5 touching = Yes. Since panel 6's pentagon and circle overlap and cross, answering No is consistent with all five clues.
Takeaway
Compare the 'yes' pictures with the 'no' pictures and the hidden rule jumps out — here it is just whether the two shapes cross each other!
- Compare the Yes pictures
- Check it against the No pictures
- Apply the rule to panel 6