How many times do you see the letter F in the following paragraph?

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-

SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-

IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE

EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.

Solution:

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

Solution:

There are six. Surprised? Almost everyone guesses three. Why?

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

Two reasons. The letter F usually makes the "f" sound, like in "fox." However, in the word "of," it makes a "v" sound. Somehow, your brain overlooks the word "of" as it scans for the sound of "f." Furthermore, the word "of" is a very difficult thing to visualize. You know what a file is, you can imagine something scientific, you can picture something that is finished, but you just can't picture an "of."