• Bonsoir@lemmy.ca
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    43 minutes ago

    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%.

    • JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 minutes ago

      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.

  • Reddfugee42@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    This is a self-referential paradox — a classic logic puzzle designed to be tricky. Let’s break it down:

    Step-by-step analysis:

    1. How many choices? There are 4 possible answers, so if we pick one randomly, the chance of picking any specific one is 1 in 4 = 25%.

    2. How many answers say “25%”? Two.

    3. That means the probability of randomly choosing an answer that says “25%” is 2 in 4 = 50%.

    4. But if the correct answer is 50%, then only one option says “50%” — which is ©. So the probability of picking it at random is 1 in 4 = 25%, contradicting the idea that 50% is correct.

    5. If the correct answer is 25%, then two options say that — a and d. So the chance of picking one of those at random is 50%, not 25% — again a contradiction.

    6. Similarly, if 60% is correct (only one option), then the chance of picking it randomly is 25%, which again makes it incorrect.

    Conclusion: Any choice leads to a contradiction. This is a self-referential paradox, meaning the question breaks logical consistency. There is no consistent correct answer.

  • moakley@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    B.

    This is a multiple choice test. Once you eliminate three answers, you pick the fourth answer and move on to the next question. It can’t be A, C, or D, for reasons that I understand. There’s a non-zero chance that it’s B for a reason that I don’t understand.

    If there is no correct answer, then there’s no point hemming and hawing about it.

    B. Final answer.

    • lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 hours ago

      I love this, it shows how being good at (multiple choice) tests doesn’t mean you’re good at the topic. I’m not good at tests because my country’s education system priorities understanding and problem solving. That’s why we fail at PISA

  • user86223091@lemm.ee
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    4 hours ago

    It’s 0%, because 0% isn’t on the list and therefore you have no chance of picking it. It’s the only answer consistent with itself. All other chances cause a kind of paradox-loop.

    • NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de
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      3 hours ago

      Correct - even if you include the (necessary) option of making up your own answer. If you pick a percentage at random, you have a 0% chance of picking 0%.

  • Lucien [he/him]@mander.xyz
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    5 hours ago

    This is a paradox, and I don’t think there is a correct answer, at least not as a letter choice. The correct answer is to explain the paradox.

    • Feydaikin@beehaw.org
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      5 hours ago

      You can rationalize your way to exclude all but a last answer, there by making it the right answer.

      Like, seeing as there are two 25% options, so there aren’t four different answers, which means there isn’t a 25% chance. This lead to there only being two options left 50% or 60%. This would seem to make 50% the right answer, but it’s not, because you know the options, so it’s not random, which in turn means you’re not guessing. So you have more that 50% chance of choosing the right answer. So 60% is the closest to a right answer, by bullshitting and gaslighting yourself into thinking you solved question.

  • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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    4 hours ago

    This seems like a version of the Liar paradox. Assume “this statement is false” is true. Is the statement true or false?

    There are a bunch of ways to break the paradox, but they all require using a system that doesn’t allow it to exist. For example, a system where truth is a percentage so a statement being 50% true is allowed.

    For this question, one way to break the paradox would be to say that multiple choice answers must all be unique and repeated answers are ignored. Using that rule, this question only has the answers a) 25%, b) 60%, and c) 50%, and none of them are correct. There’s a 0% chance of getting the correct answer.

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    3 hours ago

    Since two of them are the same, you have a 50% chance of picking something that is 33% of the possible answers. The other two, you have 25% chance of picking something that us 33% of the possible answers.

    So 50%33% + 2 (33%*25%)= 33%

    So your chances of being right is 33% cause there is effectively 3 choices.

  • Sculptus Poe@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    The answer is not available. The answer is 0 Percent. Each answer, if chosen, would be incorrect. If 0% was an answer, it would be the correct one despite being a 25% chance. Of course, if one 25% was there, that would be the correct answer.

  • StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works
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    3 hours ago

    I argue it’s still 25%, because the answer is either a,b,c, or d, you can only choose 1, regardless of the possible answer having two slots.

    • Alaik@lemmy.zip
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      3 hours ago

      Yup. And it says pick at random. Not apply a bunch of bullshit self mastubatory lines of thinking. Ultimately, 1 of those answers are keyed as correct, 3 are not. It’s 25% if you pick at random. If you’re applying a bunch of logic into it you’re no longer following the parameters anyway.

      • redfellow@sopuli.xyz
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        2 hours ago

        If you picked it randomly 100 times, would you be correct only 25% of time despite two choices being the same?

        It must be a 50% chance.

        But that would mean 50% is correct and…

        Correct answer: all the answers in the multiple choice are wrong

      • Ech@lemm.ee
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        2 hours ago

        You can just say “I don’t understand probability” next time and save a whole bunch of effort.

  • deur@feddit.nl
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    4 hours ago

    If you suppose a multiple choice test MUST ONLY have one correct answer:

    1. Eliminate duplicate 25% answers

    2. You are left with 60% and 50% as potential answers to this question.

    3. C is the answer

    If you were to actually select an answer at random to this question while believing the above, you would have a 50% chance of answering 25%.

    It is obvious to postulate that: for all multiple choice questions with no duplicate answers, there is a 25% chance of selecting the correct answer.

    However as you can see, in order to integrate the answer being C with the question itself, we have to destroy the constraints of the solution and treat the duplicate 25% answers as one sum correct answer.

    Do you choose to see the multiple choice answer space as an expression of the infinite space of potential free form answers? Was the answer to the question itself an expression of multiple choice probability or was it the answer from the free form answer space condensed into the multiple choice answer space?

    The question demonstrates arriving at different answers between inductive and deductive reasoning. The answer depends on whether we are taking the answers and working backwards or taking the question and working forwards. The question itself forces the inductive reasoning strategy to falter at the duplicate answers, leading to deductive reasoning being the remaining strategy. Some may choose to say “there is no answer” in the presence of needing to answer a question that only has an answer because we are forced to pick one option, and otherwise would be invalid. Some may choose to point out it is obviously a paradox.

  • gnutrino@programming.dev
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    4 hours ago

    This only produces a paradox if you fall for the usual fallacy that “at random” necessarily means “with uniform probability”.

    For example, I would pick an answer at random by rolling a fair cubic die and picking a) if it rolls a 1, b) on a 2, d) on a 3 or c) otherwise so for me the answer is c) 50%.

    However, as it specifies that you are to pick at random the existence, uniqueness and value of the correct answer depends on the specific distribution you choose.

  • Quik@infosec.pub
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    4 hours ago

    It can’t mathematically be A, C or D, therefore it must be B, 60%.