Another gem I’d encountered on one of the certification tests last night, contained several questions that were presented thusly:

Q) Is [some question], yes or no?
- True
- False

Clearly [some question] was an actual context-specific question.

I was, for a moment going to answer, in every case, True — because logical reasoning. Of course it’s “yes or no” provided some question was presented.

if [ <some test> ]
then
    <response>
fi

Or, because it’s “or”, we would use a boolean OR statement (the double-pipe, ||) and state it this way:

if [ <a question> ] || [ <the same question> ]
then
    <response>
fi

But social reasoning and compassion prevailed so I answered them.

• True

• False

• False

• True…

So I’m clicking through some certification documents and processes. One of them is a long preliminary explanation followed by a multiple choice exam. The topic is on Bend Radius for electrical wiring installations.

The first question was effectively: what is the definition of a bend radius?

A. The minimum angle…

B. The maximum angle…

C. The sharpest angle…

D. None of the above.

So, I click “D. None of the above.” Why? Because a radius (a distance from a point) isn’t an angle, duh.

But it’s marked wrong.

**sigh**

Edit: and then there’s the misuse and misapplication of commas.