# Inscrutable IQ Tests

I'm stuck on some of these IQ tests and I'd really appreciate some help deciphering them.

Can you extract the message?

• Provide attribution, or else! </s> Dec 13, 2021 at 17:49
• @LukasRotter Sorry, source: www.iqtests.net/puzzles/12 Dec 13, 2021 at 17:51

The message of this IQ test is:

Steganography rocks.

Question 1:

Two symbols, one from the top and one from the bottom row, share the same outer shape. We can overlay them, so that the inner strokes and curves form letters. If we pick the fifth symbol from the options, we get:

This spells ROT 7.

Question 3:

These are ternary numbers, that is numbers in base three. The empty circle is the digit 0, the half-filled circle is 1 and the filled fircle 2. We get:

110 111 220 → 12 13 24
222 202 021 → 26 20 7
022 222  ? → 8 26 11

Using these numbers as indices into the alphabet (1 → A, 2 → B, ..., 26 → Z), we get: LMXZTGHZ, which after applying ROT 7, as suggested by question 1, yields: STEGANOG. That looks promising and the next symbol is likely an R, which before rotating is a K with index 11 and ternary representation 102, so the third symbol must be used.

Question 7:

This is the pigpen cipher: A circle represents a dot; the grey lines mark the (usually invisible) outlines of the pig pen. The wedges mark the quadrant of the diagonal cross for the later letters. We get TIAR KHVD, after rotating: APHY ROCK. An S, that is a rotated L is missing, so the missing symbol it the upper right corner of the pig pen with a dot, the first symbol.

What's with the odd numbering?

No idea, but perhaps there's something to it.

From Question 1, we took the fifth symbol to form an R.
From Question 3, we took the third symbol, representing a K.
From Question 7, we took the first symbol, representing a L.

I don't see anything. But I'm bad at IQ tests. :)

• Nice! The numbers themselves don't mean too much, the primary use was to clue that rot13(gur frpbaq chmmyr vaibyirf greanel). Dec 13, 2021 at 20:58