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Equivalence partitioning is a technique used by software testing experts which aims to reduce the number of test cases and choose the right test cases. This can be achieved by identifying the inputs into "classes" or “groups” in such a way that each input value gives the same result.
For example: While testing the functionality of an input box in your application that accepts numbers from 1 to 100; there is no need to write hundred cases for all 100 valid input numbers and other test cases for invalid data. We can divide our test cases into three equivalence classes of some valid and invalid inputs i.e.
1) One input data class with all valid inputs.
Select any value from the range of 1 to 100 as a valid test case. Since choosing any other values between 1 and 100 will yield same result; so one test case for valid input data is sufficient.
2) For invalid input data test case; all values below lower limit i.e. any value below 1.
3) Input data with any value greater than 100 represents third invalid input class.
So, the advantage of this approach is reduction in the time required for testing a software due to lesser number of test cases.
Equivalence partitioning (EP) is a specification-based or black-box technique. The idea behind this technique is to divide a set of test conditions into groups or sets that can be considered the same. Equivalence partitions are also known as equivalence classes – the two terms mean exactly the same thing.
In this technique the input domain data is isolated into various equivalence data classes. This technique is normally used to lessen the aggregate number of test cases to a limited set of testable test cases, as yet covering maximum requirements.Making use of the equivalence partitioning strategy, above test cases can be partitioned into three arrangements of input data called as classes. Every test case is a representative of individual class.