The Surprise Exam Paradox

The Surprise Exam Paradox involves a teacher announcing a surprise test next week, expecting students to think they won't know the day beforehand. The students reason that if the exam can't be on the last day (since they’d expect it then), it also can't be on the second-to-last day, and so on. This logic leads them to conclude the exam can’t happen at all, contradicting the teacher’s promise of surprise. The paradox illustrates how logical reasoning about expectations and knowledge can create contradictory conclusions about events that are supposed to be surprises, highlighting complexities in predicting knowledge and surprise.