this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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Science Memes

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(page 2) 50 comments
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What's the correct value if the answer is not picked at random but the test takers can choose freely?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago

how many roads must a man walk down?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Close, but nah, it's the meaning of life

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

nuh uh, it's the answer. to life, the universe, everything! Um, but what's the question?

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's probably graded by a computer, and a) or d) is a fake answer, since the automated system doesn't support multiple right answers.

I'm going to go with 25% chance if picking random, and a 50% chance if picking between a) and d).
If it's graded by a human, the correct answer is f) + u)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

Many systems do allow multiple correct answers.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

Paradoxes aside, if you're given multiple choices without the guarantee that any of them are correct, you can't assign a chance of picking the right one at random anyway.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I see 25% twice so my bet is on 50%.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago

But 50% only appears once, which would make the answer 25%.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

The question is malformed and the correct answer isn't listed in the multiple choices. Therefore the correct answer is 0%

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

C, which means A or D, which means C, which means...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Lisa stays home?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There is absolutely no way it is 60%. Because you can never have 60% chances of picking anything particular when there are only 4 choices. Knowing this, the answer is either 25% or 50%. Two effective choices, so the answer is C, 50%.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

If C is the correct choice, then that is only one answer out of four that is correct, meaning you only had a 25% chance to answer correctly. You've created a logical paradox.

25% occurs twice, so in reality there are only 3 outcomes from your pick. Since you know 25% is incorrect from this, that is 30% of the total answers, but also 50% of total options. Via this, you can conclude that both b and c are valid answers, depending on whether you view it in relation to outcomes or in relation to options. If you view the 3 outcomes, then you have a 60% chance of being right, but if you view the 4 options, you have a 50% chance of being right. Both 50% and 60% being accepted as anwswers solves the paradoxical nature of the question.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

If I'm choosing at random between 50% and 25%, then I have 50% chance to get 50%. It is random, but I eliminate the weird options.
I do that sometimes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

the key word here is at random, you imagine a situation where you're doing it at random, but you're not actually answering randomly are you?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Even at random, 25% chance are the only options that are wrong, and they account for 50% of the choices and 30% of the true options. Otherwise, the question has no correct answer due to the two 25%s.

One caviat of course is that in reality, 2/3 is 66.6% and not 60%, but ya kno.

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