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The outcome of one single puzzle doesn't say anything about your intelligence, but the study of different kinds of puzzles may help one to think creatively or to understand one's approaches to life.
In this case, there's is an interesting lesson involved for about half the people. If you don't get it after one minute, I think you may get frustrated and try harder. This "try harder" does not cut it for this problem, because it forces you to consider the problem along the same paths you have always used, just working harder. Then you get really frustrated because the problem just doesn't solve that way!
At that point, the solvers know, the right way to handle it is to relax and think differently.
I could not have solved this problem prior to 1992. In 1992 I finished working 2 years of Unix telephone tech support. This time turned me into a problem-solver. Primarily it turned me into a LISTENER. You have to PAY ATTENTION to the person describing the problem, because that is usually where you get the most clues.
Anyone who hasn't gotten the puzzle yet, it doesn't really speak to your intelligence. Go back to it, I swear this is useful. Imagine that the question in the puzzle is being asked of you by a four-year-old child. If you still don't get it, LOOK AWAY from the puzzle. Stop, and imagine a four-year-old looking at the puzzle and asking you the question. Why would a four-year-old ask that question? Picture the kid asking you the question. Is it a boy or a girl? Why would they ask that question? Imagine what the question would mean if you were four and didn't know that the dots represented numbers.
The people who got it right away are missing out because they don't get the free lesson.
/end professor mode
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