Left-sorted Bongard Problems have the the keyword "left-narrow" on the OEBP.

Call a rule "narrow" if it is likely to be noticed in a large collection of examples, without any counterexamples provided.

A collection of triangles will be recognized as such; "triangles" is a narrow rule. A collection of non-triangular shapes will just be seen as "shapes"; "not triangles" is not narrow.

Intuitively, a narrow rule seems small in comparison to the space of other related possibilities. Narrow rules tend to be phrased positively ("is [property]"), while non-narrow rules opposite narrow rules tend to be phrased negatively ("is not [property]").

Both sides of a BP can be narrow, e.g. BP6.

Even a rule and its conceptual opposite can be narrow, e.g. BP20.

What seems like a typical example depends on expectations. If one is expecting there to be triangles, the absence of triangles will be noticeable. (See the keyword assumesfamiliarity for Bongard Problems that require the solver to go in with special expectations.)

A person might notice the absence of triangles in a collection of just polygons, because a triangle is such a typical example of a polygon. On the other hand, a person will probably not notice the absence of 174-gons in a collection of polygons.

Typically, any example fitting a narrow rule can be changed slightly to no longer fit. (This is not always the case, however. Consider the narrow rule "is approximately a triangle".)

It is possible for a rule to be "narrow" (communicable by a properly chosen collection of examples) but not clearly communicated by a particular collection of examples satisfying it, e.g., a collection of examples that is too small to communicate it.

Note that this is not just BP514 (right-narrow) flipped.

Is it possible for a rule to be such that some collections of examples do bring it to mind, but no collection of examples unambiguously communicates it as the intended rule? Perhaps there is some border case the rule excludes, but it is not clear whether the border case was intentionally left out. The border case's absence would likely become more conspicuous with more examples (assuming the collection of examples naturally brings this border case to mind).

See BP830 for a version with pictures of Bongard Problems (miniproblems) instead of links.

Adjacent-numbered pages:
BP508 BP509 BP510 BP511 BP512  *  BP514 BP515 BP516 BP517 BP518

dual, meta (see left/right), links, keyword, side

bp [smaller | same | bigger]

Aaron David Fairbanks

Left: the left hand side is enough to communicate the answer; the left pattern can be seen without the counterexamples on the right.

Right: the right hand side is enough to communicate the answer; the right pattern can be seen without counterexamples on the left.

Flipping a BP will switch its sorting.

The following is taken from the comments on page BP513 (keyword left-narrow):

Call a pattern "narrow" if it is likely to be noticed in a collection of examples, without any counterexamples provided.

A collection of triangles will be recognized as such; "triangles" is a narrow pattern. A collection of non-triangular shapes will just be seen as "shapes"; "not triangles" is not narrow.

Narrow patterns tend to be phrased positively ("is [property]"), while non-narrow patterns opposite narrow patterns tend to be phrased negatively ("is not [property]").

See keywords left-narrow and right-narrow.

Adjacent-numbered pages:
BP825 BP826 BP827 BP828 BP829  *  BP831 BP832 BP833 BP834 BP835

dual, handed, leftright, meta (see left/right), miniproblems, contributepairs, viceversa, presentationinvariant

boxes_bpimage_three_per_side [smaller | same | bigger]

Aaron David Fairbanks

Left-sorted Bongard Problems have the the keyword "right-narrow" on the OEBP.

This sorts Bongard Problems based on how BP513 (left-narrow) would sort them if they were flipped; see that page for a description.

Adjacent-numbered pages:
BP509 BP510 BP511 BP512 BP513  *  BP515 BP516 BP517 BP518 BP519

dual, meta (see left/right), links, keyword, side

bp [smaller | same | bigger]

Aaron David Fairbanks

Left-sorted BPs have the keyword "notso" on the OEBP.

This meta Bongard Problem is about Bongard Problems featuring two rules that are conceptual opposites.

Sometimes both sides could be seen as the "not" side: consider, for example, two definitions of the same Bongard Problem, "shape has hole vs. does not" and "shape is not filled vs. is". It is possible (albeit perhaps unnatural) to phrase the solution either way when the left and right sides partition all possible relevant examples cleanly into two groups (see the allsorted keyword).

When one property is "positive-seeming" and its opposite is "negative-seeming", it usually means the positive property would be recognized without counter-examples (e.g. a collection of triangles will be seen as such), while the negative property wouldn't be recognized without counter-examples (e.g. a collection of "non-triangle shapes" will just be interpreted as "shapes" unless triangles are shown opposite them).

BP513 (keyword left-narrow) is about Bongard Problems whose left side can be recognized without the right side. When a Bongard Problem is left-narrow and not "right-narrow that usually makes the property on the left seem positive and the property on the right seem negative.

The OEBP by convention has preferred the "positive-seeming" property (when there is one) to be on the left side.

All in all, the keyword "notso" should mean:

1) If the Bongard Problem is "narrow" on at least one side, then it is left-narrow.

2) The right side is the conceptual negation of the left side.

If a Bongard Problem's solution is "[Property A] vs. not so", the "not so" side is everything without [Property A] within some suitable context. A Bongard Problem "triangles vs. not so" might only include simple shapes as non-triangles; it need not include images of boats as non-triangles. It is not necessary for all the kitchen sink to be thrown on the "not so" side (although it is here).

See BP1001 for a version sorting pictures of Bongard Problems (miniproblems) instead of links to pages on the OEBP. (This version is a little different. In BP1001, the kitchen sink of all other possible images is always included on the right "not so" side, rather than a context-dependent conceptual negation.)

Contrast keyword viceversa.

"[Property A] vs. not so" Bongard Problems are often allsorted, meaning they sort all relevant examples--but not always, because sometimes there exist ambiguous border cases, unclear whether they fit [Property A] or not.

Adjacent-numbered pages:
BP862 BP863 BP864 BP865 BP866  *  BP868 BP869 BP870 BP871 BP872

notso, meta (see left/right), links, keyword, left-self, funny

everything [smaller | same]
zoom in left

Aaron David Fairbanks

The "whole" is the entire panel including the bounding box. A "part" is some region either stylistically different or amply separated in space from everything else. Smaller parts-within-parts don't count as parts.

Rhetorical question: Where would the collection of left examples of this Bongard Problem be sorted by this Bongard Problem? (The question is whether these examples considered together satisfy the pattern that all the parts do, namely that the whole satisfies the pattern that all the parts do.)

See BP793 and BP999 for similar paradoxes.

See BP1006 for the version about numerical properties where each part is a cluster of dots; examples in that BP would be sorted the same way here that they are there.

See BP999 and BP1003 for versions where each object is itself a collection of objects, so that the focus is on rules specifically pertaining to collections (e.g. "all the objects are different").

See BP1002 for a Bongard Problem about only visual self-similarity instead of conceptual self-similarity.

The rule shown in each panel is "narrow" (see BP513^left and BP514^left).

Adjacent-numbered pages:
BP999 BP1000 BP1001 BP1002 BP1003  *  BP1005 BP1006 BP1007 BP1008 BP1009

nice, abstract, anticomputer, creativeexamples, left-narrow, rules, miniworlds

Aaron David Fairbanks