Friday puzzle -- odd man out

Re: Friday puzzle -- odd man out

Bill Earl

Oddly enough, it is not odd.

Not odd, just different

Re: Friday puzzle -- odd man out

flbuckeye

a square has this many corners.

Alex Y

Its number on the other hand...

  ?

Alex Y

I think you and Bill are on to the right answer here, although the use of "odd" to describe what I am looking for is an unfortunate choice of words because of its other meaning as not even. Assuming neither of you is referring to that meaning of "odd", it sounds like you are correct.

The original puzzle that I paraphrased asked which was "most unique", language against which I have been trained from a young age (something can be more or less "unusual", but either is or is not "unique" or "one of a kind"). This may have been a case where the incorrect word usage may have been less ambiguous.

given your reply, I believe that I'm incorrect.

Gary Smyth

I selected #2 (not odd) because the pattern inside the shapes does not appear. I found a way to make a link to the remainder of the shapes. But since "odd" does not lead by default to "even" I'm thinking that my thinking doesn't match yours.

Re: given your reply, I believe that I'm incorrect

Alex Y

Why is that any more unusual than the only one with a hexagonal blue border, or the only one with a red border?

In your message you mention

Gary Smyth

pattern. I was thinking that they all are polygons, all have color, all have a "ball in the polygon but only one is absent what I would call a stippled pattern within. I debated the blue in the ball, but reasoned that the ball might be a hemisphere and rotate and hide the blue thing. The only one without the pattern within was #2.

Re: 

Bill Earl

Yes, it's number is indeed odd.

If you look at all the attributes of the figures: Shape of frame, Color of frame, Background of frame and the presence of the 'blue blob' in the center. Each figure differs from each other figure in one or two attributes. Figure 5 is the only one that differs in only one attribute from each of the others. In other words, it is the least odd, which makes it the most odd.

Re: In your message you mention

Alex Y

See Bill's explanation.

Said another way,

#1 differs from all the others in color of frame

#2 differs from all the others in background

#3 differs from all the others in shape of frame

#4 differs from all the others in color of blob

#5 is the only one that has no feature that differs from all the others.

(this is equivalent to Bill's explanation, just from a different POV)