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Trying to prove a point

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pwlps:

--- Quote from: DimitriP on June 10, 2019, 12:50:06 am ---Dear everyone, the question as posed ( whether it's an appropriately phrased for the intent or not ) includes the magic phrase "electrical state".
Everyone that says D, is not answering the question as worded, but answering the "intent" of the question instead.
Out of the four possible answers, there is only one single, solitary, lonesome answer that involves the "electrical state" of the switch and that's when electricity is present.
No electricity, no electrical state. 
Either way in my book it justifies a "your question doesn't mean what you think it means" tshirt .

--- End quote ---

I agree, still it would need some more training in the scholastic disputatio techniques for the OP to convince his teacher. As others stated if we replace C by "power is not applied to the switch actuator" then C and D would be equivalent but with the actual formulation C is ill-defined because we don't know where the power is applied. Yet we could argue it is still equivalent: if power is turned down in the Universe then the switch will stay in it's "normal" position for sure. But then there is no way to define any "electrical state" ...

Brumby:

--- Quote from: DimitriP on June 10, 2019, 12:50:06 am ---Out of the four possible answers, there is only one single, solitary, lonesome answer that involves the "electrical state" of the switch and that's when electricity is present.
No electricity, no electrical state.

--- End quote ---
I disagree.

The physical state would involve a description of a device's physical characteristics - size, weight, component materials, even colour.  The electrical state would involve a description of a device's electrical characteristics - connectivity, resistance, inductance.

In the case of a switch, it's electrical characteristics are related to its physical characteristics.  Where the switch is in one position, there will be an electrical connection and when it is in the other, there will be no electrical connection.

Thus, for a NO switch to be physically in its rest state, the electrical state will be: open circuit.
For a NC switch to be physically in its rest state, the electrical state will be: short circuit.

However, if we were to interpret the phrase "electrical state" correctly for this situation, we should examine the level of education where it has been presented and in the context of the learning already offered.  For example: Is it a phrase in a PhD thesis where semantic accuracy is crucial -or- is it simply a phrase to express whether a switch will pass current or not?  Imagine Sheldon Cooper teaching 4 year-olds the physics of building sand castles.



--- Quote from: Psi on June 09, 2019, 11:53:01 am ---Yep, question is trying to confuse you.
Need to read it carefully and not jump to any conclusions.

That's pretty common with multichoice questions.
When creating multichoice questions the test writer has to be careful they don't give away the answer by simply having it as an option.
So they make it a bit confusing and have multiple correct answers and you have to carefully figure out what exactly the question is asking.

--- End quote ---
This is one aspect of multiple choice questions that cannot be overstated.

However, I have a MAJOR bone to pick with the whole idea of multiple choice questions: They do not represent a relevant and fair test of the examinee's knowledge.  There are two aspects of significance:
  1. It is almost universally true that you will never come across a real world situation where there will be three or four potential solutions offered to you where one will be correct.  You will be presented with a situation that may not have any clues as to what your options are.  You will just need to know your stuff.
  2. Often, you can deduce the correct answer by eliminating wrong answers.  When those wrong answers are obvious and/or silly, what does the question prove?  All it will do is decrease the odds of a guess being correct.  I will admit, though, that in some cases this will be useful as there could be one or more "wrong" answers that aren't obviously wrong and will need greater thought.  This is one such case - but the care needed to phrase the question and answers with clarity is paramount.  We do not have consensus that this has been achieved.

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