How smart are you if I am ten times as smart as you?

Answer 1

Assuming a hypothetical 'you' and an equally hypothetical 'I', we must first identify the variable for the intelligence of the asker.

Using a fairly standard measurement of IQ - which, of course, is both notably imperfect and the subject of considerable debate - we can approach the question by any one of a number of different assumptions, but in this case, it may be best to stick with two... An extremely unlikely highest possible or 'best/worst case' estimate, and a much more likely 'most probable case' estimate.

In the best (or worst) case, (the balance between the two possibilities depending on point of view and wholly subjective value assessment) let's assume you have the highest widely accepted IQ score ever measured, 228 points.

This gives the hypothetical subject of the question a functional IQ we might well round to 29 points... Which puts the subject in a category usually defined as being typical of a person suffering severe mental retardation. Several breeds of dog are smarter than this.

Moving from there to a much more likely assessment of the actual IQ in question, we would instead end up with a subject IQ of approximately 8 to 11... Or, approximately the IQ of a geranium.