Pairwise Testing

The «Room Booking» form allows you to book a meeting room for a specific time slot.

The form has three input parameters: Meeting duration, Room, Confirmation required.

Each parameter has several possible values. If we create all combinations and test them using brute force, we will get 12 tests.

Room Booking

Meeting duration

30 minutes 1 hour

Room

Little Bear Orion Andromeda

Confirmation required

Reserve

#	Meeting duration	Room	Confirmation required
1	30 minutes	Little Bear	No
2	30 minutes	Little Bear	Yes
3	30 minutes	Orion	No
4	30 minutes	Orion	Yes
5	30 minutes	Andromeda	No
6	30 minutes	Andromeda	Yes
7	1 hour	Little Bear	No
8	1 hour	Little Bear	Yes
9	1 hour	Orion	No
10	1 hour	Orion	Yes
11	1 hour	Andromeda	No
12	1 hour	Andromeda	Yes

If you have n parameters, and each of them has v1, v2, ..., vn possible values, the total number of combinations is calculated as:

Total combinations = v1 × v2 × ... × vn

For the «Room Booking» form, the number of combinations is:

• Meeting duration — 30 minutes, 1 hour — 2 values
• Room — Little Bear, Orion, Andromeda — 3 values
• Confirmation required — Yes, No — 2 values

Total combinations = 2 × 3 × 2 = 12

Pairwise testing helps reduce the number of tests.

Instead of testing every possible combination, pairwise testing focuses on covering all pairs of values, because most defects occur due to the interaction of two parameters—not all parameters at once.

Pairwise testing allows you to cut the number of tests for the «Room Booking» form in half:

To avoid creating pairs manually, you can use an online generator.