What's Wrong with this Survey Question?
Q2. What is your gender?
Female
Male
Q2. What is your gender?
Female
Male
Exhaustive & Mutually Exclusive
Exhaustive means the given options represent all possibilities
Mutually Exclusive means the given options do not overlap
In Management and Strategy
Exhaustive & Everything Else
action A
action B
action C
green hair/fur/feathers?
2 legs?
action A
action A
action B
action B
action C
action C
action C
Mutually Exclusive
Flowcharts describe DETERMINISTIC processes
At any decision point the condition can be evaluated and one branch or another can be chosen.
Our convention of requiring decisions to be based on YES-NO or TRUE FALSE conditions ensures that branches are mutually exclusive.
Exhaustive and Mutually Exclusive
How to proceed at an intersection: right or left
Secret codes: if the text contains the word "bread," launch the app; if the text contains the phrase "bread and roses," don't launch the app; if the text contains the word "roses," shut the system down.
Compute X. If X is greater than 0 and less than 12, start program A; if X is greater than 10, launch program B. If X = 11, launch program C.
What to order? If you are hungry and thirsty, order a hot dog and a beer; if you are hungry but not thirsty, order a pretzel; if you are thirsty, order a cola.
If you are over 40 you can sign up for a vaccine in May. If you are under 30 you can sign up for a vaccine in June. If you are in an at-risk category you can sign up now.
Exhaustive and Mutually Exclusive
Ordinary Deck of Cards. Choose one card at random. Which statement are exhaustive, which are muutlly exclusive?
"you chose a red card" and "you chose a black card"
"you chose a 'face' card" and "you chose an ordinary card"
"you chose a heart," "you chose a club," and "you chose a diamond"
"your card is a number card," "your card is red", "your card is clubs,"
"your card is spades"
"you chose a red card" and "you chose a seven"
EX
ME
EX
ME
EX
ME
EX
ME
EX
ME
LOGIC
condition A
condition C
condition C
condition C
condition C
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
condition B
condition B
Q1007. What pattern is output by this flowchart? Assume that squares are printed horizontally from left to right and that starting on a new line means going down on the page and back to the left margin.
Q1009. Match letter in flowchart with thing that might be classified in that step of this flowchart.
A rock, wonder woman, airplane, bird, penguin, an ordinary man, arrow, pillow,
Flow Exhaustivity and Mutual Exclusivity
By Dan Ryan
