What does the CAP theorem state for distributed systems?

• A. You can have all three: Consistency, Availability, and Partition tolerance.
• B. It applies only to local systems and not distributed systems.
• C. In a distributed system, it is impossible to guarantee all three properties; you can have at most two.
• D. It asserts that consistency must be sacrificed for availability.

Answer: (C)

CAP theorem says that in a distributed system you cannot guarantee Consistency, Availability, and Partition tolerance all at the same time. When a network partition happens, you must sacrifice one property to keep the other two. So you can have either Consistency and Partition tolerance (but not full Availability), or Availability and Partition tolerance (but not full Consistency), and trying to have all three at once is not possible. The statement about having all three is false, it's not limited to local systems, and claiming that Consistency must always be sacrificed for Availability is too absolute—the actual trade-offs depend on the system’s design and the likelihood and handling of partitions.