@sacha Now if we take the form of the question I just stated, which is really what they are trying to say here, then it is solvable.

@freemo And with that you summarized hours of a bunch of guys time in a couple of minutes. This said, I think its easy to see why this would frustrate the hell out of Joe Average. 😅

@sacha Thats just because im armed with math.. this is actually a more convoluted form of Russels paradox

For example imagine the following:

Which answer is correct:

A) B is incorrect
B) A is correct

@sacha There are forms of the question that we can infer have an answer through logical consistency though.. for example

A) 50%
B) 50%
C) 25%
D) 25%

We could infer both A and B are correct due to being logically consistent.. though still has the problem that the actual question or answer wasnt actually asserted so we really cant say its an answer.

@freemo @sacha Right, ok, I understand what you mean now. We can infer that "50%" is the correct answer, but the implied question is "What is the correct answer?", so it's circular.

@clacke @freemo Yeah, its one of those self-referential paradoxes. 😅

@sacha

Paradoxes dont even come into play until you throw in possible answers.. The question itself is just a self-referential question without enough information to answer it.

Like this is a self referential question that is a paradox "This statement is false. Is the previous statement true?"

However in this case the question itself has no paradox it is just amiguous and self referential like this: "What is the answer to this question?"

@clacke

@sacha So with that said C can not be the answer because it implies no answers are correct, so C is ruled out. B can likewise be ruled out since it implies two of the answers are both correct, but B is the only one labeled as 50% so if it were the correct answer it would have to be in two places. You cant select B with a 50% chance, ergo B can not be the correct answer.

Now if one answer and only one answer were correct then we would have 25% as the correct answer. but both A and D have the correct answer, in that case adn thus actually has 50% chance, and thus is also paradoxical.

Ergo with the choices given none of the answers can create a logical consistency. Therefore we have a aprdoxical question that has no answer. in its original form, in the form i asked it however either A or D might be the answer but we have no way which is correct or if either are correct

@freemo @sacha I don't see the mistake, can you explain it some other way?

The question is "this question", "What is the chance that you will be correct?", and the answer depends on what the answers are. With that follows your reasoning below, which shows that with the answers given, there is no correct answer.

@clacke

"what is the chance that you be correct?" is a question sure, but it is equivalent to saying "What is the correct answer? 5 or cat?"

The question itself isnt complete.

Think of it outside of being a multiple choice question to see why:

"What is the chance you will answer this question correctly?" I dont provide you any choices, I expect you to verbalize an answer, whats the answer? The answer is "You did not give me enough information to answer the question".. if i provide multiple choices to the question those choices do not add additional information to the question, you arent actually answering the question all you can do is rule out paradoxical answers, but even if you manage to rule out all but one paradoxical answers it doesnt mean the one you are left with is "correct" since the original question didnt provide enough information.

@sacha