Thanks for making me laugh all alone in my car before heading in to work. I wish I could give you an award. Cheers!
Do you know the answer?
Submitted 22 hours ago by genfood@feddit.org to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://feddit.org/pictrs/image/35642039-2ef8-48a7-9c1e-7b53ef781cb4.jpeg
Comments
Tiger666@lemmy.ca 1 hour ago
Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 21 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:
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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%.
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How many answers say “25%”? Two.
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That means the probability of randomly choosing an answer that says “25%” is 2 in 4 = 50%.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Applejuicy@feddit.nl 20 hours ago
Chatgpt ass answer lmao
KammicRelief@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
haha yeah, I knew it at the “let’s break it down:”
I was like… I know this voice…Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 12 hours ago
Got it right though
ornery_chemist@mander.xyz 18 hours ago
^dontthinkaboutitdontthinkaboutitdontthinkaboutit^
samus12345@lemm.ee 17 hours ago
Deepus@lemm.ee 20 hours ago
…so like, which one you picking?
Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
E.
MrShankles@reddthat.com 17 hours ago
I would think that if you truly pick at random, it’s still a 25% chance no matter how you cut it
NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 20 hours ago
©
You had to show off, huh
yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 16 hours ago
The comment - which isn’t edited - uses
©.Whatever client you use replaces/renders © [bracket c bracket] as ©.
jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 19 hours ago
™
RandomVideos@programming.dev 18 hours ago
If you are picking at random, you wouldnt get to analyze and reach the conclusion that its 25%, meaning that the answer is 25%
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moakley@lemmy.world 21 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 20 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
shalafi@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
You think like I do. Bet you test well.
blandfordforever@lemm.ee 15 hours ago
Entertaining response but I disagree.
I’m going to say that unless you’re allowed to select more than one answer, the correct answer is 25%. That’s either a or d.
By doing something other than guessing randomly (seeing that 1 in 4 is 25% and that this answer appears twice), you now have a 50% chance of getting the answer correct. However, that doesn’t change the premise that 1 in 4 answers is correct. It’s still 25%, a or d.
moakley@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
That’s an interesting perspective. The odds of correctly guessing any multiple choice question with four answers should be 25%. But that assumes no duplicate answers, so I still say that’s wrong.
the_q@lemm.ee 20 hours ago
Nice logic; poor reading comprehension.
moakley@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Does better reading comprehension get you a better answer?
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 12 hours ago
You chose A, C, and D, so you have a 100% chance.
qwet@lemm.ee 12 hours ago
This is a conundrum wrapped in a turducken, swaddled in nesting dolls.
TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 11 hours ago
lol chill out there buddy it is only self-referential once. maybe twice.
Hazzard@lemm.ee 3 hours ago
I’m not certain, I think it’s an infinite loop.
I.E. If the answer is 25%, you have a 50% chance, if the answer is 50%, you have a 25% chance, if the answer is 25%, you have a 50% chance…
nialv7@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
The question is malformed and the correct answer isn’t listed in the multiple choices. Therefore the correct answer is 0%
null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 hours ago
If only one of the 4 options said 25% would it still be malformed#
xthexder@l.sw0.com 14 hours ago
It’s probably graded by a computer, and a) or d) is a fake answer, since the automated system doesn’t support multiple right answers.
I’m going to go with 25% chance if picking random, and a 50% chance if picking between a) and d).
If it’s graded by a human, the correct answer is f) + u)resting_parrot@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
Many systems do allow multiple correct answers.
OpenStars@piefed.social 14 hours ago
42
BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
But what’s the question?
TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 11 hours ago
how many roads must a man walk down?
user86223091@lemm.ee 20 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 20 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%.
rational_lib@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I disagree there’s any paradox - every choice is completely wrong. Each choice cannot be correct because no percentage reflects the chance of picking that number.
Lucien@mander.xyz 22 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.
Faydaikin@beehaw.org 21 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 there’s only two options, 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 through the question.
seeigel@feddit.org 10 hours ago
What’s the correct value if the answer is not picked at random but the test takers can choose freely?
chillhelm@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
All answers are correct then.
samus12345@lemm.ee 17 hours ago
C, which means A or D, which means C, which means…
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Lisa stays home?
cholesterol@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
Paradoxes aside, if you’re given multiple choices without the guarantee that any of them are correct, you can’t assign a chance of picking the right one at random anyway.
lmuel@sopuli.xyz 11 hours ago
33% innit
iAvicenna@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
iis
zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world 8 hours 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 1/31/2 + 1/31/4 + 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%
ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 21 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.
SculptusPoe@lemmy.world 21 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.
Commiunism@beehaw.org 21 hours ago
50/50, you either guess it right or you dont
thatradomguy@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
I see 25% twice so my bet is on 50%.
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
But 50% only appears once, which would make the answer 25%.
deur@feddit.nl 21 hours ago
If you suppose a multiple choice test MUST ONLY have one correct answer:
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Eliminate duplicate 25% answers
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You are left with 60% and 50% as potential answers to this question.
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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%.
For all multiple choice questions with no duplicate answers, there is a 25% chance of selecting the correct answer.
Draw your own conclusion about how this outcome influences that proposed rule.
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gnutrino@programming.dev 20 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, c) on a 2, d) on a 3 or b) otherwise so for me the answer is b) 50.
However, as it specifies that you are to pick at random the existence and value of the correct answer depends on the specific distribution you choose.
Bonsoir@lemmy.ca 17 hours 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 17 hours 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.
shneancy@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
the key word here is at random, you imagine a situation where you’re doing it at random, but you’re not actually answering randomly are you?
Bonsoir@lemmy.ca 14 hours ago
If I’m choosing at random between 50% and 25%, then I have 50% chance to get 50%. It is random, but I eliminate the weird options.
I do that sometimes.
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works 19 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 19 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.
red@sopuli.xyz 19 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 19 hours ago
You can just say “I don’t understand probability” next time and save a whole bunch of effort.
TheFogan@programming.dev 21 hours ago
Selecting not at random, A xor D must be correct, because the answer key can only have one correct answer so even duplicate right answers must also be wrong.
waigl@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
It asked for whether the answer is correct not whether it lines up with the answer sheet.
Crumbgrabber@lemm.ee 21 hours ago
100 **** percent, i’m all in!
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 19 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.
red@sopuli.xyz 19 hours ago
But that one answer has a 33% larger possibility of being chosen by random, than the remaining two.
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
I covered that by multiplying it by 50% as it represents 50% of the choices.
9point6@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
starlinguk@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
There’s a reason I dropped probability at school.
lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 hours ago
Can I take a 50/50 joker first?
Little8Lost@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
60%
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 minutes ago
If you’re picking the the answer, then there is 100% chance of being correct. So none of these answers is correct.
AGD4@lemmy.world 8 minutes ago
🤯