Addition Questions

Each cell in the grid represents a count, a quantity, or a multi-category breakdown. The rule is that the third row (or column) is the sum of the previous two, category by category. The cognitive operation is straight addition — what you see in cell C is exactly what is in cell A plus what is in cell B.

• Cells contain quantities of one or more visual categories — dots, shapes, or coloured objects.
• Row 0 and row 1 look 'small'; row 2 looks 'bigger' in a way that maps to a sum.
• When you count category by category, the row-2 cell equals row-0 + row-1.
• No single rule explains row 2 by itself — but two rules combined (one per category) do.

• Multiple visual categories per cell (e.g. red + blue, triangles + circles).
• Quantities visibly increase down a row or across a column.
• Row 2 cells look like the union of row 0 and row 1.

1. 1Identify the categories that vary across the grid.
2. 2Count each category in the row 0 and row 1 cells of the column you're solving.
3. 3Add the counts category by category — the result must equal the row-2 cell.
4. 4Use the visible row-2 cells to confirm the operation is addition (and not difference or conservation).

• Treating addition as conservation — conservation requires the total to stay constant, not to grow.
• Forgetting to add per category — adding only the dominant category produces a near-correct distractor.
• Mistaking layout for sum — items can appear in different positions but the count must match.