Well, any multple choice question is going to be unanswerable if none of the choices given are a correct answer.<p>Since I think most would define a multiple choice question as one with a list of answers from which you pick the correct one, I say this question fails to validate.<p>Thus not only is this multiple choice question unanswerable, it's not even a multiple choice question. Try wrapping that around your head.
Since A and D give you the same result, the question is a "check all that apply question". Excluding contradictory combinations, there are four answers:<p>* nothing checked (i.e., none of A,B,C,D)<p>* A+D<p>* B<p>* C<p>Assume the correct choice is among these four answers (it is, since we also include a "none of these" option); then you have a one-in-four chance to get it right. Hence, A+D is right.<p>If this is not a "check all that apply" question, then having both A and D is contradictory and the person posing this question deserves a whack on the head.
Completely different question:<p>This question is posed to a large number of people who all attempt to answer is correctly. "What fraction of respondents answered the same as you? a) 25% b) 50% c) 0% d) 25%"<p>If you choose the answer to this question at random, what is the chance it will be correct?<p>What if you change it to "What fraction of respondents not including you answered the same as you"?
Where is correctness defined?<p>What is the antecedent for 'it,' the 'answer' or the 'question'?<p>Does this phrase even make sense? I suspect it is supposed to be some 'recursive cleverness,' or just not make sense?<p>C) 0% because for something to be correct it follows that it fits a given definition of correctness of which none is given.<p>now the recursion has started to work based on the above reasoning<p>So if C)0% is the "correct answer"(that is, there is no correct answer) then choosing an answer at random will be correct 25% of the time, if you shift to viewing 25% as the "correct answer" then you have a 50% chance of randomly selecting a "correct answer"<p>what is the chance [the question] will be correct?
C)0%<p>q1=what is the chance [the question] will be correct?<p>what is the chance [an answer to q1] will be correct?
25%<p>q2=what is the chance [an answer to q1] will be correct?<p>what is the chance [an answer to q2] will be correct?
50%
If I choose to answer this question at random (with the constraints of having to choose one of the choices) then the chance of it being correct is going to be 25%, because I am answering at RANDOM, therefore not using any intellect and not applying any sense to the question.<p>However, the question merely states IF you choose, not that you have to.<p>Therefore, I am entirely correct by answering either A or D.<p>Thus it is not unanswerable and is incorrect in stating so.
i don't get it... maybe i'm being incredibly dense but it looks like it should be B. this makes the correct answer 25%, so the probability of getting it right at random is 50% because 2 out of 4 answers are 25% - so the answer is B = 50%, and indeed the chance of choosing B is 25%<p>answering the question at random is not the same as answering the question posed - so the fact that the two answers are not equal shouldn't be a problem. right?<p>edit: i hate paradoxes, i'm pretty certain i'm wrong, but i can't put my finger on precisely why. :)
Your rubric doesn't denote whether I can answer more than one item for the question therefore based on "you can only choose one" then 25% is the chance of being right, as the correct answer is still one of A,B,C,D.
0% chance.<p>Answering randomly may give you a <i>result</i> that coincidentally matches the truth, but you have provided no logical or epistemological support for your choice, nor any chain of reasoning that leads you from the available evidence to a conclusion that there even <i>is</i> a correct answer.<p>You have a 25% chance of randomly choosing the "right" answer, <i>(C) 0%</i>, but no paradox is created because you answered without establishing knowledge of the answer, and therefore your answer cannot rightly be called <i>correct.</i>