11. Are You Overconfident?

For each of the following ten items, provide a low and high guess such that you are 90 percent sure the correct answer falls between the two guesses. Your challenge is to be neither too narrow nor too wide.1

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How to Score

The correct answers to this quiz are as follows: (1) 39 years; (2) 4,187 miles; (3) 12 countries as of 2014; (4) 39 books; (5) 2,160 miles; (6) 390,000 pounds; (7) 1756; (8) 645 days; (9) 5,959 miles; (10) 36,198 feet.

If you successfully met the challenge—that is, achieved 90 percent confidence—you should have 10 percent misses. That converts to getting nine of the above estimates correct.

Did you ...

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