At what point do we assign a series of earthquakes their categories (i.e.,mainshock,foreshock,or aftershock)?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The categorization of earthquakes into foreshocks, mainshocks, and aftershocks is typically done after the sequence of events has occurred, as it requires analyzing the entire series to determine which event was the largest (mainshock) and which were smaller preceding (foreshocks) or following (aftershocks) events.

At What Point Do We Assign a Series of Earthquakes