this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

This can also be used a great example of proof by contradiction: There is no correct answer in the options. Proof: Assume there was a correct answer in the options. Then it must be either 25%, 50% or 60%. Now we make a case distinction.

(A) Assume it was 25. Then there would be two of four correct options yielding in a probability of 50%. Therefore 50 must be the correct answer. -> contradiction.

(B) Assume it was 50. Then there would be one of four correct options yielding in a probability of 25%. Therefore the answer is 25. -> contradiction.

(C) Assume it was 60%. Since only 0,1,2,3 or 4 of the answers can be correct the probability of choosing the right answer must be one of 0% 25% 50% 75% or 100%. -> contradiction.

Because of (A), (B) and (C), it cannot be 25, 50% or 60%. -> contradiction.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Cheeky answer - the correct answer is a superposition of 25% and 50%, thus you answer it as a multiple choice question

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

My client renders this as ( c )

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago

You can never answer this question correctly. If the correct answer is 25% there's a 50% chance you guess correctly but that would make the 25% wrong.

But if the answer is the 50% then it implies that 25% is correct which implies that 50% is wrong.

We reach a contradiction for both 25% and 50% making the correct answer to make the whole statement truthy 0%.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

0%

The only winning move is not to choose

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Yeah option b should definitely be 0% for added fuckery

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago

Thanks for making me laugh all alone in my car before heading in to work. I wish I could give you an award. Cheers!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

If you're choosing the answer, then there is 100% chance of being correct. Since none of these answers is 100%, the chance is 0%.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

That logic would only hold if I wasn't dumb as rocks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

It was only the next day that I returned to this post realising that "this question" isn't even defined.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

All answers are correct then.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It is 33% if the answer itself is randomly chosen from 25%, 50%, and 60%. Then you have:

If the answer is 25%: A 1/2 chance of guessing right

If the answer is 50%: A 1/4 chance of guessing right

If the answer is 60%: A 1/4 chance of guessing right

And 1/3*1/2 + 1/3*1/4 + 1/3*1/4 = 1/3, or 33.333...% chance

If the answer is randomly chosen from A, B, C, and D (With A or D being picked meaning D or A are also good, so 25% has a 50% chance of being the answer) then your probability of being right changes to 37.5%.

This would hold up if the question were less purposely obtuse, like asking "What would be the probability of answering the following question correctly if guessing from A, B, C and D randomly, if its answer were also chosen from A, B, C and D at random?", with the choices being something like "A: A or D, B: B, C: C, D: A or D"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Any answer is correct as long as you don't pick it at random. I'd choose (a) because I'm too lazy to read the other options

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I would think a b c d so 25% O he made a mistake znd forgot to take the bubble answer out. Now we only can pick between aord b c so it would be 33%

Seems my logic is wrong iff i read the rest

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

When in doubt, C it out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I choose 75%

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Great! I'll hand this to my daughter to annoy her co-students who struggle with probabilitiy ;-)

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