this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour 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] 1 points 6 minutes ago

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 49 minutes ago

It's annoying that 25% appears twice. How about these answers:

a) 100%

b) 75%

c) 50%

d) 0%

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 hours 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] 39 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

This is a conundrum wrapped in a turducken, swaddled in nesting dolls.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

lol chill out there buddy it is only self-referential once. maybe twice.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

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...

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

The only way out is to choose 60% to accept defeat

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

Haha, I think they should have made that option 0%, to further the paradox

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 hours 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] 6 points 11 hours ago

All answers are correct then.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 15 hours ago

Many systems do allow multiple correct answers.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 15 hours ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Damn hitchhikers.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 13 hours ago

how many roads must a man walk down?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 54 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

The question is malformed and the correct answer isn't listed in the multiple choices. Therefore the correct answer is 0%

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

If only one of the 4 options said 25% would it still be malformed#

[–] [email protected] 5 points 12 hours ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 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 1/3*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] 142 points 23 hours ago (15 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 90 points 22 hours ago (11 children)

This is a self-referential paradox — a classic logic puzzle designed to be tricky. Let’s break it down:

Step-by-step analysis:

  1. 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%.

  2. How many answers say “25%”? Two.

  3. That means the probability of randomly choosing an answer that says “25%” is 2 in 4 = 50%.

  4. But if the correct answer is 50%, then only one option says “50%” — which is (c). So the probability of picking it at random is 1 in 4 = 25%, contradicting the idea that 50% is correct.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

[–] [email protected] 167 points 21 hours ago (21 children)
[–] [email protected] 70 points 18 hours ago (5 children)

haha yeah, I knew it at the "let's break it down:"
I was like.. I know this voice....

[–] [email protected] 16 points 13 hours ago

"Conclusion:" was the final nail in the coffin

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 14 hours ago

Got it right though

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 16 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.

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