Equivalence partitioning principles

 Divide a set of test conditions into groups or sets(partitions), where all elements of the
set can be considered the same, so the system should handle them equivalently.
 Test only one condition from each partition.
 An equivalence partition containing valid values is called a valid equivalence partition. If
one condition in a partition works, we assume all of the condition in that partition will
work.
 An equivalence partition containing invalid values is called invalid equivalence partition.
In one of the conditions in a partition does not work, then we assume that none of the
conditions in that partition will work.
 When values from valid partitions are used in test cases, they can be combined with
other valid values in the same test, as the whole set should pass.
 When values from invalid partitions are used in test cases, they should be tested
individually, that is, not combined with other valid equivalence partitions, to ensure that
failures are not masked.
 Applying to more than numbers. For example. If you are booking a flight, you have a
choice of Economy, Business or First-Class tickets. Each of these is an equivalence
partition in its own right and should be tested. The invalid partition would be an attempt
to type in any other type of flight class (for example Staff).
 Equivalence partitioning + Boundary Value Analysis (BVA) principles
 Divide a set of test conditions into partitions, where all elements of the set can be
considered the same, so the system should handle them equivalently.
 An equivalence partition containing valid values is called a valid equivalence partition. If
one condition in a partition works, we assume all of the conditions in that partition will
work.
 An equivalence partition containing invalid values is called an invalid equivalence
partition. If one of the conditions in a partition does not work, then we assume that
none of the conditions in that partition will work.
+ BVA

 The minimum and maximum values (or first and last values) of a partition are its
boundary values
 Two-value (two-point) boundary analysis. The minimum and maximum values (or first
and last values) of a partition are its boundary values, test cases should be designed to
cover boundary values.
 Three-value (three-point) boundary analysis. The boundary values are said to be on and
either side of the boundary and the value that is ‘on’ the boundary is generally taken to
be in the valid partition.
 Boundary coverage for a partition is measured as the number of boundary values
tested, divided by the total number of identified boundary test values, normally
expressed as a percentage.