If you choose an answer at random
 

Discuss

:popcorn:

Is correctness positional or numerical?

Define "correct".

[QUOTE=GP2;479826]Is correctness positional or numerical?[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Dubslow;479827]Define "correct".[/QUOTE]Sometimes [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whad%27Ya_Know%3F#Disclaimers"]ambiguous, misleading, or poorly worded questions are par for the course.[/URL] And sometimes that is intentional.....

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;479816]If you choose an answer to this question at random, what is the chance you will be correct?[/QUOTE]Since I am always correct about everything (and very modest), then no matter which answer I choose I will still be correct. Amirite?

As retina has observed, we are not asked about our answer being correct, but about ourselves being correct. SWMBO say I am always wrong, so I'm never correct. 0%.

[QUOTE=Dubslow;479827]Define "correct".[/QUOTE]
Actually, the right counter-question is "define random pick". I can randomly pick a number between 0 and 100, or I can randomly pick a number from the set {25, 50, 66} or I can randomly pick one of the four answers (which means pick a number in the set {1, 2, 3, 4}) and my "righteousness" (wow! this is actually a word, it is not underlined with the curly red line which we hate so much!) will be every time different. Now, if you try each of them a million times, only one will fit.

This question appeared "decades" ago in an IQ test and it sparkled a lot of debate at the time.

OK.
Assume that there is a single designated correct answer.
The content of the answer is irrelevant.
Substitute A, B, C, D for the answers
Chance is 25%
Conclusion:
I voted wrongly at 50%

[quote]If you choose an answer to this question at random, what is the chance you will be correct?[LIST][*]25%[*]50%[*]66%[*]25%[/LIST][/quote]
The question itself is wrong, being self-referencing. Therefore the issue of the correctness of an answer is nugatory, otiose, etc etc etc.

That quibble aside, I'll consider it, purely for the sake of discussion, as a generic multiple-choice question with 4 choices.

SOP for multiple-choice questions is that there is only one correct answer. So if two of the alternatives are identical, both are wrong.

In a 4-choice question, this would leave two possible answers. Selecting one of these two possibilities at random would mean a 50% chance of choosing the correct answer.

Curiously, 50% is one of the answers on offer.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;480037]The question itself is wrong, being self-referencing. Therefore the question of the correctness of an answer is nugaory, otiose, etc etc etc.

That quibble aside, I'll consider it, purely for the sake of discussion, as a generic multiple-choice question with 4 choices.

SOP for multiple-choice questions is that there is only one correct answer. So if two of the alternatives are identical, both are wrong.

[B]*In a 4-choice question, this would leave two possible answers.[/B]* Selecting one of these two possibilities at random would mean a 50% chance of choosing the correct answer.

Curiously, 50% is one of the answers on offer.[/QUOTE]

*Wouldn't that leave three possible answers?