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Why Programs Behave Similarly Within a Partition

publish date: 2026/06/17 05:49:39.505597 UTC

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Why is it valid to test just one or a few values from an equivalence partition rather than every possible value in the partition?

Because programs normally behave in a comparable way for all members of an equivalence partition

Because testing every value would violate software licensing restrictions

Because all values in a partition are mathematically identical

Because only boundary values actually execute different code paths

Correct Answer

Because programs normally behave in a comparable way for all members of an equivalence partition

Explanation

Programs normally behave in a comparable way for all members of an equivalence partition. For example, a program requiring two positive numbers would behave the same way for any pair of positive numbers. This means that if one test case from a partition reveals a defect, other members of the partition would likely reveal the same defect.

Reference

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 10th edition

Quizzes you can take where this question appears

Choosing Unit Test Cases - Partition Testing