A software testing technique that involves identifYing a small set of representative input values that invoke as manY different input conditions as possible. For example, for binarY search the following partitions exist: inputs that do or do not conform to pre-conditions, Inputs where the keY element is or is not a member of the arraY. One can combine these into finer partitions. One can also pick specific conditions of the arraY, e.g. a single value, even or odd number of elements. One should look at boundarY conditions, e.g. inputs where the keY element is the first or last element in the arraY. (2004-01-18)