If you choose an answer at random

[Uncwilly]

Discuss

[masser]

[GP2]

Is correctness positional or numerical?

[Dubslow]

Define "correct".

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by GP2

Is correctness positional or numerical?

Originally Posted by Dubslow

Define "correct".

Sometimes ambiguous, misleading, or poorly worded questions are par for the course. And sometimes that is intentional.....

[retina]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

If you choose an answer to this question at random, what is the chance you will be correct?

Since I am always correct about everything (and very modest), then no matter which answer I choose I will still be correct. Amirite?

[wblipp]

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%.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by Dubslow

Define "correct".

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.

[kladner]

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%

[Dr Sardonicus]

If you choose an answer to this question at random, what is the chance you will be correct?

• 25%
• 50%
• 66%
• 25%

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.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

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.

*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.

*Wouldn't that leave three possible answers?