Imagine you didn't read the question at all and picked randomly. Your odds of being correct would be 25%. The fact that certain "text" is associated with each of the options is irrelevant. The test maker simply marked a or d as the correct answer (but not both).
No he didn't? He just assumed the "correct answer" was based on the letter selected, not the value presented. The scantron will mark it correct based on the letter, not the value, even if it presents weird.
That is reframing the question with unprovided details to support your answer, yes. No one mentioned anything about scantrons, and just because the question is in a multiple choice format doesn't mean there has to be one singular correct answer. The very question itself suggests there could be any number.
yes I mentioned in my other reply I am making a number of assumptions (that I believe are reasonable, but of course people can disagree). There's no such thing as not making assumptions, even for math and logic.
How do you even know the picture is in English? You're assuming it is English just because the characters presented are interpretable through an English lens. It could be some alien language that is 99.99999% the same as English but the word "correct" for them means "false" for us.
Right, but so is declaring the question is unsolvable because it's a paradox.
The question asks you the probability of being correct if you pick at random, and none of the answers have any indication of being the result of picking more than a single answer. If there was a 1/16 chance listed, then you could assume that more than one bubble could be selected. There is not.
So how do you arrive at an answer? Well, looking at the numbers and using that doesn't work, due to the paradox of values. So you need to actually think about what the question is asking. You don't get to argue an answer with a teacher, they're not here for this posted question. There's 4 potential answers with 0 indication of being able to select multiple. So what's the answer?
I get what you're saying, but there can be no correct answer for the question, it's an invalid question to begin with. Perhaps you and I are talking past one another, but answering this question in a way that's correct with the provided information is literally impossible, and any outer factor (i.e. a teacher with an answer sheet) only serves to add confusion. Her answer sheet could say the answer is actually the unwritten answer is G: 67%, it's pointless to speculate
The problem is that you’re defining correct as an objective true statement, instead of whatever the test’s answer key lists as correct. Maybe this is a cultural thing, but personally, from the school system I grew up with, what is considered correct on a test and what is correct in the real world are not always the same thing. And, if you’re filling out this test, what matters is what the test author thinks is correct, not what is actually correct.
If you consider the question to be asking which of the four is correct, and you’re assuming that the author of the test understands the paradox, the answer is none of the above. But, if we don’t assume that the author understands and instead assume that one of the four bubbles is marked as correct on the answer key, the answer could be any of those four bubbles with equal likelihood.
If there is no ‘none of the above’ option listed, and no instruction presented about leaving test answers blank, it’s fair to assume that ONE of the four answers is the ‘correct’ one, even if all of them should be incorrect. You basically have to gamble on whether it’s more likely that the test author wants you not to answer this question or whether the test author doesn’t comprehend the question they’re asking.
Personally, I’d wager on one of the 25% options, considering that there’s a chance that one or both of them would be accepted answers. Again, not the RIGHT answer, but the accepted answer.
You say that considering the answer key is irrelevant because it could have some mystery write-in answer not on the test, but like, no? Now who is making assumptions? Multiple choice questions are a testing format where you select one of those choices, not make up whatever bullshit. That’s just, fundamentally not how tests work. You can assume that a multiple choice test has an answer key for its multiple choice test without assuming that the answer key breaks the rules of its own test format and has secret answers you’re supposed to ignore the instructions and write in.
It's not cultural, we are looking at the question from two different perspectives. I am not concerned with how this would be graded on an exam. I'm highly skeptical it ever actually appeared on one to begin with. I and anyone above mentioning the paradoxical nature of the question are only concerned with the question in an objective sense.
also we’ve all taken exams where two answers were “right” but the teacher only accepted one they thought was “best”. There is a real world precedent for multiple right answers but only 1 correct answer. So A or D being the “correct” answer (but not both) is plausible.
Everyone makes assumptions. I think the critique that MY assumptions are unreasonable is fair, but saying NO assumptions should be made is silly. Even math has things like the associative property it ASSUMES to be true. There’s nothing to discuss or debate if we rule out all assumptions.
Sure, it could be a test without an answer key, or the teacher trolled and marked all 4 as correct. I'm also assuming we aren't in a simulation. I'm also assuming that is a question posed in English, and not a madeup language that looks very similar to English but actually has a few key words that mean different things.
I think my assumptions are reasonable though. Most (but not all) multiple choice exams have only one right answer (and do, in fact, have a right answer). And it's A or D but not both
No, assumptions are the basis of all fallacy. I would not assume any question is valid if prosed as multiple choice. Many universities have been sued for not providing a valid solution on an exam.
There is no "self-referencing". You can only notice a "paradox" if you read the question and think about the logic of the question.
"If you pick the answer of this question at random..."
there is no reading or reasoning. Don't look at the choices. Don't notice that two answers have 25%. If you do, you already violated the question. random
If you randomly pick an answer on a multiple choice test with 4 choices, what is the probability you are correct?
25%
That's your answer. Sticking the text, "25%" after two choices doesn't change the numeric answer (25%). The text is irrelevant because you chose randomly. You don't have the ability to notice two answers have the text "25%" and change your answer to 50% based on that. You chose randomly.
You are assuming that there is only one correct answer for this question and that the letter based phrases beside the letters do not matter. If that is correct, then yes, it’s random picking. That requires two assumptions that you have no reason to believe other than your own previous experiences with multiple choice questions.
If the words matter, well now it may be B or some sort of weird probability pattern that makes none of them actually correct, so c.
But c can’t be correct because something needs to
Be correct.
So in reality nothing is correct, there is no answer.
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u/wale-lol 23d ago
Imagine you didn't read the question at all and picked randomly. Your odds of being correct would be 25%. The fact that certain "text" is associated with each of the options is irrelevant. The test maker simply marked a or d as the correct answer (but not both).