Pointless exercise

[dtw00]

Is there a word which describes the following statement?
"When you get asked a question to which an answer is already known"
e.g. I've just been asked to provide a team name and after numerous suggestions i was eventually told it had to be related to the name of my employer.

[Archie]

self-evident?
self-explanatory?

[dtw00]

Archie, doesn't qiute hit the nail on the head.

I was looking for a word like oxymoron for example. I've read it somewhere and thought at the time i must remember that, only to forget apparently.

[Archie]

An axiom is my best shot but then again my IQ is 40

[tedtmc]

To go through the rigmarole or an exercise in futility

[Casiopea]

A rhetorical question?

The rhetorical question is usually defined as any question asked for a purpose other than to obtain the information the question asks.

[tedtmc]

I thought a rhetorical question does not expect an answer but this one does.

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by dtw00

]"When you get asked a question to which an answer is already known."

I agree with you, tedtmc. The example doesn't fit the question. But let's wait and see what the poster, dtw00, has to say. Hopefully, s/he will clarify the example for us.