1. A method for selective tripping of at least one of a plurality of circuit breakers in the event of a short, the plurality of circuit breakers including an upstream circuit breaker and, on an output side, at least one downstream circuit breaker the method comprising: monitoring, via the upstream circuit breaker, to detect whether the at least one downstream circuit breaker is forming a switching arc to open its switching contacts in order to interrupt and selectively trip a circuit on the output side, the monitoring including checking, via the upstream circuit breaker whether a resistance of a short-circuit loop formed by a short has an exponential profile over time, wherein an exponent is continuously calculated and the switching arc is detected upon the calculated exponent exceeding a threshold value.