thanks for the link spaw, my own theory is that people choose carrot as a default vegetable, its the first one that people comes to mind (mainly north am/euro background) regarding the elephant trick the trick is any single digit number multiplied by 9 and adding the resulting digits in the sum gives 9.

I do think that version has more steps than necessary. this is simpler. think of a number from 1-10. multiply by 9 (some people have a hard time with this I usually say - pick an easier number) add the resulting digits (you always get 9) subtract 5 (you should get 4) pick the corresponding letter in the alphabet (a=1 b=2 etc) at this point you lose some people. (4 is a good number because not many countries start with D (remember this is a Eurocentric test) most people think of Denmark, although there is Dominican Republic and Dubai Take the second letter in that country's name and think of an animal, Elephant is the most common answer followed by Emu, Elk, Eel (depending on your definition of animal) and now tell them Remember there are no grey elephants in Denmark.

the test is funny, but its more interesting to see how many people get it wrong, and just the average math ability of some people.