The total land area of Japan is closest to the total land area of which state: California, Michigan, Montana, or Oregon?
Correct answer: Montana.
Out of 22 teams, though, none got it right. Four teams guessed Oregon, eight guessed California, and ten guessed Michigan.
I wanted to make it tricky, of course, but I never want to shut teams out. (Honestly!) If every team were randomly guessing, five or six should’ve gotten it.
My theory: California and Montana get lumped together as “big states,” and California seems like a likelier match for Japan. If nothing else, it’s similarly vertical. Michigan is the smallest state of the four, so attracts the people who want to lowball the answer.
But if anyone else wants to shed some psychological insight, I’m all ears.
California seemed like an obvious choice because of it’s general shape, etc. My team chose Oregon, however to buck the trend. Montana just seems like the antithesis of Japan – horizontal, thick, rectangular. Internal perceptions make us believe it can’t possibly have the same general land area.
On another note, I’ve been tracking our team’s progess and noticed I was missing an entire week! January 2nd, 2007 there’s nothing on Seattlest. Did I miss something? Also, even though Seattlest didn’t post the standings, do you guys keep track of that info anyway for dates prior to October 17th? Yes, I have a spreadsheet. Yes, I’m now obsessed. Judge however you like. Thanks!