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Comment by papapra | Hacker News Reader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient

I don't think you know a lot about iq.

If brain structure stayed static throughout your lifetime I would be inclined to agree. But as the structure is constantly in flux, and proven so, no so much. Granted there is disagreement on how much your iq can change over time.

http://www.livescience.com/36143-iq-change-time.html

May be I needed to be more clear. Of course there can be variations, but the maximal potential iq is static throughout life and we can't change it. Good nutrition, good environement will help someone achieve it, I don't know about exercise.

^ What he said. IQ is a measurement of capacity for development. So if you are perfectly healthy, have perfect nutrition, perfect exercise, perfect learning, etc. you could perfectly realize your development. This is unlikely to happen, and there are various things (malnutrition, lack of exercise) that can lower your performance IQ temporarily, but you can't really change your capacity for development. And you can't add to it.

You're mistaking IQ with the underlying factors which it is derived from. IQ is, by definition, just a function of your scores on a bunch of standardized tests which try to determine your intelligence. If you can study for the kinds of questions the tests ask you, you can improve your IQ. It is a different story from improving whatever the underlying factors are.

For example, some IQ tests ask you "What's the next number in this series...". If you aren't very good with numbers, you might do very poorly on this section. However, if you sit down and learn about a lot of the patterns that show up frequently in those types of questions, then you may increase your score dramatically on that section, and thus improve your IQ.

Thank you, english is not my native language.

How do you know it is static?

IQ tests are designed so that subjects should not be able to increase their IQ. They do however fail at it.

Read the link you posted. The very first sentence: "An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a score derived from one of several standardized tests designed to assess human intelligence."

Improve your score in one of the standardized tests, and you will by definition improve your IQ.

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