I = 1 means a component is?

I = 1 means a component is?

• A. Maximally stable (many depend on it; it depends on no one)
• B. Moderately unstable (some depend on it; it depends on several)
• C. Maximally unstable (no one depends on it; it depends on everyone)
• D. Somewhat decoupled (low dependencies)

Answer: (C)

The assessment hinges on the instability measure, which compares how many dependencies a component has outward versus inward. Instability I is defined as Ce / (Ca + Ce), where Ce is the number of outgoing dependencies (the component depends on others) and Ca is the number of incoming dependencies (others depend on it). If no one depends on the component (Ca = 0) but it depends on many others (Ce is large), the ratio approaches 1. That is maximally unstable: it has many dependencies to track but provides nothing that others rely on. So the description “maximally unstable (no one depends on it; it depends on everyone)” matches this scenario, making it the best choice. The other descriptions align with lower instability or a more decoupled, stable position.

The assessment hinges on the instability measure, which compares how many dependencies a component has outward versus inward. Instability I is defined as Ce / (Ca + Ce), where Ce is the number of outgoing dependencies (the component depends on others) and Ca is the number of incoming dependencies (others depend on it). If no one depends on the component (Ca = 0) but it depends on many others (Ce is large), the ratio approaches 1. That is maximally unstable: it has many dependencies to track but provides nothing that others rely on.

So the description “maximally unstable (no one depends on it; it depends on everyone)” matches this scenario, making it the best choice. The other descriptions align with lower instability or a more decoupled, stable position.