Why Pairwise Testing Works So Well: A Possible Theoretical Explanation of an Empirical Phenomenon

Authors

Francisco Zapata, The University of Texas at El PasoFollow
Vladik Kreinovich, The University of Texas at El PasoFollow

Publication Date

9-2016

Comments

Technical Report: UTEP-CS-16-68

To appear in Mathematical Structures and Modeling, 2017, Vol. 41.

Abstract

Some software defects can be detected only if we consider all possible combinations of three, four, or more inputs. However, empirical data shows that the overwhelming majority of software defects are detected during pairwise testing, when we only test the software on combinations of pairs of different inputs. In this paper, we provide a possible theoretical explanation for the corresponding empirical data.