NationStates Jolt Archive

Linky (http://tihomir.org/crazy-questions-at-google-job-interview/)
A friend of mine had an interview a couple weeks ago with Google Inc. He provided me a list of just some of the questions he was asked. I’ve added a few more from others I have talked to who had interviews with the internet giant, Google, as well. See if you can answer them. Many are open ended with several right answers, therefore I did not provide the answers.

1. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

2. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

3. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

4. How would you find out if a machine’s stack grows up or down in memory?

5. Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew.

6. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?

7. You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?

8. Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?

9. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?

10. In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. if they have a girl, they have another child. if they have a boy, they stop. what is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?

11. If the probability of observing a car in 30 minutes on a highway is 0.95, what is the probability of observing a car in 10 minutes (assuming constant default probability)?

12. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?

14. You are at a party with a friend and 10 people are present including you and the friend. your friend makes you a wager that for every person you find that has the same birthday as you, you get $1; for every person he finds that does not have the same birthday as you, he gets $2. would you accept the wager?

15. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

16. You have eight balls all of the same size. 7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?

17. You have five pirates, ranked from 5 to 1 in descending order. The top pirate has the right to propose how 100 gold coins should be divided among them. But the others get to vote on his plan, and if fewer than half agree with him, he gets killed. How should he allocate the gold in order to maximize his share but live to enjoy it? (Hint: One pirate ends up with 98 percent of the gold.)

Do you still think you have what it takes to work for Google?

I wonder if Google actually does ask questions like this....

12. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)

Well, THIS one I got.

360 degrees/12 hour marks = 30 degrees per hour. 15 minutes = .25 (1/4) hour.

30 degrees x .25 (1/4) = 7.5 degrees.

I once went to a job interview where I was asked

1 why are man hole covers round? the answer I gave was it was the only shape that won't fall through no matter the angle
2 how many leaves are on an oak tree? I totally said "4" and they said :confused: and I said "it's autumn, those will fall off soon enough"

Well, THIS one I got.

360 degrees/12 hour marks = 30 degrees per hour. 15 minutes = .25 (1/4) hour.

30 degrees x .25 (1/4) = 7.5 degrees.

If you look at the clock and the time is 3:15 it's a digital clock and doesn't have hands.

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?


is this possible?

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?


is this possible?

I don't think so.

where do you Google yourself?

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?


is this possible?

Yes.

1 and 2 go across, 1 comes back. Total = 3 minutes.
5 and 10 go across, 2 comes back. Total = 12 minutes.
1 and 2 go across. Total = 2 minutes.
Net total = 17 minutes.

Yes.

1 and 2 go across, 1 comes back. Total = 3 minutes.
5 and 10 go across, 2 comes back. Total = 12 minutes.
1 and 2 go across. Total = 2 minutes.
Net total = 17 minutes.

thank you

6. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?
I know the answer to this one:
The subject of this sentence, "a clock's hands" is plural, and, therefore, the proper conjugation of the verb is "do." The question should be restated as "How many times a day do a clock's hands overlap." Now go back to your bong, you hipster shit head, and quit asking me stupid questions.

9. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?


the new husbandless country is renamed amazonia.

I don't think so.

It is.

The question did not specify a digital clock. "3:15" is the way you write the time. Nice try, though.

Would have been a good answer at the interview.

If you look at the clock and the time is 3:15 it's a digital clock and doesn't have hands.

The question did not specify a digital clock. "3:15" is the way you write the time. Nice try, though.

I know the answer to this one:
The subject of this sentence, "a clock's hands" is plural, and, therefore, the proper conjugation of the verb is "do." The question should be restated as "How many times a day do a clock's hands overlap." Now go back to your bong, you hipster shit head, and quit asking me stupid questions.

RIGHT the FUCK ON!!!

Thank you.

Would have been a good answer at the interview.

It would have, actually. I'd go on that interview just to point out how pretentious and full of horseshit their questions are if all they ask are riddles where it depends on how you choose to interpret the context of the question. I'd call tehm the assholes that they are and go work somewhere else.

16) Remove 2, and split the other 6 evenly and weigh them. If they weigh the same, the heaviest ball is one of the two removed so you weigh them. Otherwise, remove one ball from the heaviest three and weigh the other two. Apply same method - if they weigh the same, the heaviest is the ball removed, otherwise it is whatever the scale says is heavier.

14. You are at a party with a friend and 10 people are present including you and the friend. your friend makes you a wager that for every person you find that has the same birthday as you, you get $1; for every person he finds that does not have the same birthday as you, he gets $2. would you accept the wager?
Sure, if it's a group birthday party.

10. In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. if they have a girl, they have another child. if they have a boy, they stop. what is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?
50/50.

A friend of mine had an interview a couple weeks ago with Google Inc. He provided me a list of just some of the questions he was asked. I’ve added a few more from others I have talked to who had interviews with the internet giant, Google, as well. See if you can answer them. Many are open ended with several right answers, therefore I did not provide the answers.

1. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus? -
How big a bus?

2. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?
Climb onto the center of the blade and hang on. If lying right on the middle of the spinning post, the centrifugal force would not be too bad. Alternately, if I were only as thick as a nickle, I might try lying flat below the blades, but this is probably riskier.

3. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?
$5.00 per window.

4. How would you find out if a machine’s stack grows up or down in memory?
Not a clue.

5. Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew.
A database is a collection of bits of information, all lined up so you can find anything you need to know. It is kind of like your sock drawer, with everything lined up by size and color so you can find your big red socks and your medium sized blue socks easily. Would you like some icecream?

6. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?
Never. My clock is digital. Alternately, on someone elses clock, it happens 23 times in a 24 hour period. 24 times in a 24 hour one minute period.

7. You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?
Mapquest it. :D

8. Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?
Sort by color, style and size.

9. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?
Nothing. Every woman KNOWS some other man has been unfaithful, no woman knows hers has.

10. In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. if they have a girl, they have another child. if they have a boy, they stop. what is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?
Approximately 51% girls, 49% boys as in the general population of the planet.

11. If the probability of observing a car in 30 minutes on a highway is 0.95, what is the probability of observing a car in 10 minutes (assuming constant default probability)?
.32 (?)

12. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)
7.5 degrees... alternately, see my answer for #6.

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?
1 and 2 cross in 2 minutes. 1 goes back, now 3 minutes. 5 and 10 cross in 10 minutes making the total 13 minutes. 2 goes back, 15 minutes, then 1 and 2 cross, 17 minutes. Hopefully 5 and 10 started a campfire and are making dinner when 1 and 2 arrive.

14. You are at a party with a friend and 10 people are present including you and the friend. your friend makes you a wager that for every person you find that has the same birthday as you, you get $1; for every person he finds that does not have the same birthday as you, he gets $2. would you accept the wager?
No. At that rate, it is certain that I would get $1 (mine) and likely that he would get $18 (everyone else). While I might get more, it is statistically unlikely that I will win. However, if he offered me $20 for every birthday the same as mine and $2 for him for every birthday not the same, I would take it. Then I would get at least $20 (mine) and he would get at most $18 (everyone else) but I might get more. Alternately, if this were a birthday party for myself and my octuplet siblings, I would take the bet.

15. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?
None. T-H-E-E-N-T-I-R-E-W-O-R-L-D doesn't have the same letters as P-I-A-N-O-T-U-N-E-R-S.

16. You have eight balls all of the same size. 7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?
Weigh three on one side, three on the other (1st weighing). If both are the same, weigh the remaining two that you did not weigh, one will be heavier (2nd). If one set of three is heavier, weigh one of that three on one side, one on the other (2nd weighing). If they are the same, the third ball is the heaviest.

17. You have five pirates, ranked from 5 to 1 in descending order. The top pirate has the right to propose how 100 gold coins should be divided among them. But the others get to vote on his plan, and if fewer than half agree with him, he gets killed. How should he allocate the gold in order to maximize his share but live to enjoy it? (Hint: One pirate ends up with 98 percent of the gold.)
I think I remember this one... the fifth pirate gets 98 by giving one each to the third and first pirates on the theory that if he were eliminated, the best either of them would get is 0 based on the number of pirates left to vote. That is, if four of them voted to throw #5 overboard, then #4 could be at a disadvantage of 3v1, or could swing a majority but either way he could do it without one of the two of #3 and #1. If he were to go, #3 could not get a majority of the coin because #1 and #2 would never go for it and would throw him over, and if it were just 2, #2 would get all and #1 would get none because of no majority vote. So in every other scenario, #1 and #3 don't get a guarantee of anything, but if they support #5's plan for #5 to get 98 coins, they at least get one each.

Do you still think you have what it takes to work for Google?
I do... but do I WANT to work for Google?

Linky (http://tihomir.org/crazy-questions-at-google-job-interview/)


I wonder if Google actually does ask questions like this....
Makes the question I was asked by our HR chief pretty look pretty tame. For the record it was "Would you describe yourself with ten adjectives?"

I found out from a relatively new hire that he had pared that down to five.

50/50.
Wrong, I'm not sure how one would do the math to find the exact proportion, but there would be more girls than boys.
The sequence would work out something like this (I guess).
Possible Child Combinations (B = boy, G = Girl):
B = 50% chance
GB = 25% chance
GGB = 12.5% chance
GGGB = 6.25% chance
...
And then at the bottom we have some poor woman who (theoretically)squeezes out an infinite amount of girls.

Wrong, I'm not sure how one would do the math to find the exact proportion, but there would be more girls than boys.
The sequence would work out something like this (I guess).
Possible Child Combinations (B = boy, G = Girl):
B = 50% chance
GB = 25% chance
GGB = 12.5% chance
GGGB = 6.25% chance
...
And then at the bottom we have some poor woman who (theoretically)squeezes out an infinite amount of girls.

Actually, women are born with a finite number of ova. And women aren't fertile for their whole lives.

Number 9 is identical to Blue Eyes (here (http://www.xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html)).

9. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?

Let's work up to the answer. First, what if there were only two married couples? Each woman knows that the other woman's husband has cheated (presumably because he must have cheated with her). Therefore, one of the women (let's call her A) can reason like this:

At least one person has cheated on their wife. If my husband hasn't, she (the other woman) will know that her own husband must have. Therefore if she kills her husband today, I will know that mine is faithful. Otherwise, she must be unsure, and therefore my own husband will have been unfaithful.

Of course, woman B can reason like this as well. So neither of them kills at first, and then they both kill on the second day. This should be making sense.

Now, this obviously is not a solution in the stated case. However, we can let it generalize to any number of couples, as follows:

Add a third couple. Now woman A can think:

If my husband is faithful, each of those two will only be able to see one unfaithful husband. This is the same as the case if there were only two couples, and so they should kill their husbands tomorrow. If they do not, I know that my husband has been unfaithful.

Each other woman naturally reasons the same way, and works out that if no-one is killed the next day, their own husband will be killed on the third day.

This strategy obviously holds with any number of husbands, and therefore with 100 couples, all the men will be killed on the 100th day. QED

EDIT: HN, wrong, if we make a few simplifying assumptions

Assume that all women are capable of bearing an infinite number of children, and the chance of any baby being male or female is 50%.

Then, the proportion of boys to girls is naturally 50%.

Proof: 50% of all first children are male, 50% are female. The same holds for second children, third children, etc. Therefore the proportion will never change. At first glance, it seems there will be more girls, but you need to take into account that every girl will be balanced out by a boy at the same level.

Wrong, I'm not sure how one would do the math to find the exact proportion, but there would be more girls than boys.
The sequence would work out something like this (I guess).
Possible Child Combinations (B = boy, G = Girl):
B = 50% chance
GB = 25% chance
GGB = 12.5% chance
GGGB = 6.25% chance
...
And then at the bottom we have some poor woman who (theoretically)squeezes out an infinite amount of girls.

Actually if we assume that the odds of a pregnancy resulting in and boy or a girl are equal then the numbers should be nearly equal. Suppose you had 64 couples:

1.) 32 boys are born, 32 girls are born, 32 couples stop having children.
2.) 16 boys are born, 16 girls are born, 16 couples stop having children
3.) 8 boys are born, 8 girls are born, 8 couples stop having children
4.) 4 boys are born, 4 girls are born, 4 couples stop having children
5.) 2 boys are born, 2 girls are born, 2 couples stop having children
6.) 1 boy is born, 1 girl is born, 1 couple stops having children

At this point the gender ratio is 1:1, there is only one procreating couple left, and the odds of the population ending up with a majority of boys is 50%, the odds of there being exactly the same number are 25%, and the odds of there being a majority of girls is 25%.

So counter-intuitively, if one sex outnumbers the other then the boys will probably be in a majority.

*snip*
You lie, goodsir, and dare impugne my honour with your sorcerous mathematics! I challenge thee to a duel!

You lie, goodsir, and dare impugne my honour with your sorcerous mathematics! I challenge thee to a duel!

Very well, as the challengee the choice of weapons is mine: I choose Partial Differential Equations at dawn! Have at you sahr!

Number 9 is identical to Blue Eyes (here (http://www.xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html)).



.

fuck logic.

every woman in town knows that every other husband is unfaithful. as soon as woman #1's husband is outed, she is outing every other husband in town so as not to be the only "fool".

there would be such a flurry of fingerpointing that no husband would survive the day.

it is an impossible scenario. there is no way that the women wouldnt end up telling each other that their husbands were cheaters long before the queen showed up.

Very well, as the challengee the choice of weapons is mine: I choose Partial Differential Equations at dawn! Have at you sahr!
I was hoping for pistols and at a much more reasonable time than dawn. All the same, I guess I can just try jabbing you in the eye with my pencil.

4. How would you find out if a machine’s stack grows up or down in memory?
Not a clue.
Stacks only grow down.

fuck logic.

every woman in town knows that every other husband is unfaithful. as soon as woman #1's husband is outed, she is outing every other husband in town so as not to be the only "fool".

there would be such a flurry of fingerpointing that no husband would survive the day.

it is an impossible scenario. there is no way that the women wouldnt end up telling each other that their husbands were cheaters long before the queen showed up.

If you don't want to bother with formal proof, the following informal argument will deal with things in one day, without anyone talking about it. Each woman can think "every other guy in town has been unfaithful, so my husband must have been".

However, the use of the word 'prove' in the statement of the problem makes the solution I provided correct. The women cannot prove anything without that information.

fuck logic.

every woman in town knows that every other husband is unfaithful. as soon as woman #1's husband is outed, she is outing every other husband in town so as not to be the only "fool".

there would be such a flurry of fingerpointing that no husband would survive the day.

it is an impossible scenario. there is no way that the women wouldnt end up telling each other that their husbands were cheaters long before the queen showed up.

I went the other direction... if the queen says that there is an unfaithful husband, each woman can nod and say "yes there is" because she knows that there are 99 of them. If she does not know about hers, she won't kill hers (that is set up in the premise). So unless someone says "Your husband cheated with me, and here are the pictures", then each single woman would continue to know that others have cheated, not know that hers has, and, since no woman would KNOW hers had (back to the premise), no one would be killed. Every woman would know that every other woman was not obeying the law, but would also know that it was an impossible law, since the premise says no woman knows about her own husband.

The only way to get to "MY husband is a cheater" would be to compare notes.

If the women did NOT know that all the others were cheaters, I think it would work the way it is laid out... after 99 days of no one killing any husband, each would have to assume it were her husband who was the cheater, and all 100 would buy the farm on the 100th day.

Since I don't even know what a stack is, that is new info to me. Guess I won't get the Google job after all. Oh well. :p
A stack is a computer structure.

My answer to all would be:

Give me a second, I'll google it.

I went the other direction... if the queen says that there is an unfaithful husband, each woman can nod and say "yes there is" because she knows that there are 99 of them. If she does not know about hers, she won't kill hers (that is set up in the premise). So unless someone says "Your husband cheated with me, and here are the pictures", then each single woman would continue to know that others have cheated, not know that hers has, and, since no woman would KNOW hers had (back to the premise), no one would be killed. Every woman would know that every other woman was not obeying the law, but would also know that it was an impossible law, since the premise says no woman knows about her own husband.

The only way to get to "MY husband is a cheater" would be to compare notes.

If the women did NOT know that all the others were cheaters, I think it would work the way it is laid out... after 99 days of no one killing any husband, each would have to assume it were her husband who was the cheater, and all 100 would buy the farm on the 100th day.

Actually, the method I have laid out holds even when each woman knows that every other woman's husband is a cheater. Try tracing it with three couples, and you'll be able to see how it works.

*stuff*
*more stuff*.
I suspect that after the Queen's announcement, all the husbands would run like Hell and the village would soon be empty of males.

Stacks only grow down.

Since I don't even know what a stack is, that is new info to me. Guess I won't get the Google job after all. Oh well. :p

I suspect that after the Queen's announcement, all the husbands would run like Hell and the village would soon be empty of males.

More accurately, they would run like hell on the 99th day, if they were also perfect logicians. Otherwise, they wouldn't realize the consequences of the idea.

More accurately, they would run like hell on the 99th day, if they were also perfect logicians. Otherwise, they wouldn't realize the consequences of the idea.
That assumes that the men are just as aware of what is going on with other people's husbands as the women. Since the question doesn't mention them have any special powers, it is natural to assume that each man only knows of his own affairs and would, therefore, assume the Queen meant him in specific.

My answer to all would be:

Give me a second, I'll google it.

Guess who just got the job :p

That assumes that the men are just as aware of what is going on with other people's husbands as the women. Since the question doesn't mention them have any special powers, it is natural to assume that each man only knows of his own affairs and would, therefore, assume the Queen meant him in specific.

Very true, and I hadn't considered that.

I went the other direction... if the queen says that there is an unfaithful husband, each woman can nod and say "yes there is" because she knows that there are 99 of them. If she does not know about hers, she won't kill hers (that is set up in the premise). So unless someone says "Your husband cheated with me, and here are the pictures", then each single woman would continue to know that others have cheated, not know that hers has, and, since no woman would KNOW hers had (back to the premise), no one would be killed. Every woman would know that every other woman was not obeying the law, but would also know that it was an impossible law, since the premise says no woman knows about her own husband.

The only way to get to "MY husband is a cheater" would be to compare notes.

If the women did NOT know that all the others were cheaters, I think it would work the way it is laid out... after 99 days of no one killing any husband, each would have to assume it were her husband who was the cheater, and all 100 would buy the farm on the 100th day.

ok ok how about THIS one...

to not obey the law is unthinkable. everyone in the freaking town knows that the law has been broken by 99% of the town but has been ignoring it until the queen shows up and forces the issue.

on that day the town becomes a democracy by killing the queen instead of the husbands. no queen means new government.

the bitch had it coming.

Actually, the method I have laid out holds even when each woman knows that every other woman's husband is a cheater. Try tracing it with three couples, and you'll be able to see how it works.

I can see it through three couples (where each woman sees two cheaters and assumes hers is not until she realizes no one sees only one) but at four couples, I lose the thread.

According to the premise, no woman knows her own husband to be a cheater, so with four couples, each woman sees three cheaters, but knows that each other woman sees at least two... so everyone knows there are multiple cheaters, because they can see them, but no one has a real reason to suspect that their own spouse is one because there are multiple possibilities. Since no one woman can see that her own spouse is the cheater, no one dies.

Where do I go wrong there?

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?


is this possible?

In the version of this question that was posed to me, there were cannibals chasing my party of campers to explain their need for speed. Interesting, no? My response was equally interesting, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

9) First propose that if a woman knows of N cheating men she will kill her husband on the (N+1)th day if nobody has died on a previous day.

Holds true for N=0 since she knows at least 1 person cheated so it must be her husband, so he dies on day 1.

Assume true for N=(x-1). Now if Woman A sees N=x cheating husbands either her husband cheated or he didn't.
If he didn't cheat then all the women who were cheated on would have seen (x-1) cheating men (all the ones the first woman saw minus their own husband) and so on the xth day will kill their husbands.
So the woman who sees x cheating husbands will see the bloodbath sometime on the xth day and conclude that her husband didn't cheat.

If there is no bloodbath then on the xth day she must conclude that everybody saw at least x cheating men. So the women who Woman A knows cheated must see x, the x that Woman A sees minus their own husband plus Woman A's husband. So she will kill her husband on the (x+1)th day.

Done.

Now given that there are K(>0) cheating husbands, all of them (and only them) will die on the Kth day.

I can see it through three couples (where each woman sees two cheaters and assumes hers is not until she realizes no one sees only one) but at four couples, I lose the thread.

According to the premise, no woman knows her own husband to be a cheater, so with four couples, each woman sees three cheaters, but knows that each other woman sees at least two... so everyone knows there are multiple cheaters, because they can see them, but no one has a real reason to suspect that their own spouse is one because there are multiple possibilities. Since no one woman can see that her own spouse is the cheater, no one dies.

Where do I go wrong there?

If you can see how it works at three, then you should be able to see that at four, the problem from the perspective of any one woman is that of three. That was a bad sentence. Each woman sees three cheaters, and knows that if her own husband is not a cheater, then the other women will see two each. If each other woman sees two, then the problem for those three is the same as in the case of three couples. As each other woman sees three, they can all realize that nobody has died on day three, so their own husband must also be cheating. Therefore if it holds for x couples, it holds for x+1, and it obviously works for one couple.

1. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

Well, if we assume that a golf ball has a volume of about an ich, and that most buses can hold about 100 passengers, and that each passenger is 2 x 3 x 10, we can guess that on the order of 72000 golf balls fit in.
2. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

Lie down.


And, yes, they really do ask questions like this. Microsoft did (and maybe still does) the same thing. It's to see your reasoning.

How many golf balls can fit in a bus?

I know for a fact that 490,102 golf balls can fit in a bus, because those are the kinds of things you do when you are unemployed.

I wonder if Google will hire me.

None, a bus is a piece of computer architecture.

I just realized that -_-

In the version of this question that was posed to me, there were cannibals chasing my party of campers to explain their need for speed. Interesting, no? My response was equally interesting, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

oh rodja you didnt toss the slow guy to the cannibals and escape at your leisure did you?

oh rodja you didnt toss the slow guy to the cannibals and escape at your leisure did you?

No. I killed one of the cannibals so the other cannibals would have a tasty snack to occupy them for a while, extending the time my party had to cross the bridge.

Clock q:

Course it's zero. Both hands are in exactly the same flipping place, so there's no angle between em

No. I killed one of the cannibals so the other cannibals would have a tasty snack to occupy them for a while, extending the time my party had to cross the bridge.

oh phew. i was hoping that i hadnt completely misjudged you!

Clock q:

Course it's zero. Both hands are in exactly the same flipping place, so there's no angle between em

...no, they're not.

...no, they're not.

3:15. Yes they are. The 15 minute mark on an analogue clock is exactly where the 3 hours mark is.

3:15. Yes they are. The 15 minute mark on an analogue clock is exactly where the 3 hours mark is.

Yes, the *marks* are indeed in the same place. The question, however, refers to the placement of the hands.

Oh actually... the hour hand would have moved a bit by the time the minute hand got round to the 3.

Oh actually... the hour hand would have moved a bit by the time the minute hand got round to the 3.

Indeed. :)

Mapquest it. :D

I do... but do I WANT to work for Google?

Obviously not, or else you would have said Google Maps.

17. You have five pirates, ranked from 5 to 1 in descending order. The top pirate has the right to propose how 100 gold coins should be divided among them. But the others get to vote on his plan, and if fewer than half agree with him, he gets killed. How should he allocate the gold in order to maximize his share but live to enjoy it? (Hint: One pirate ends up with 98 percent of the gold.)

The top pirate proposes to keep all the gold for himself, to which no one agrees, eliminating him and leaving 4 pirates. The process is repeated, with the top pirate being the next pirate in line, who commits the same mistake. Finally, there are only two pirates left. The pirate who is ranked higher proposes to take 98 pieces and leave only 2 for the last pirate (even pirates can be charitable once in a while), who must accept, since he is the weaker pirate based on the ranking, and is therefore unable to overpower the penultimate pirate on his own.

As demonstrated, one pirate does end up with 98%, but it wasn't the first one because pirates don't have the patience to try to figure out that math shit.

3:15. Yes they are. The 15 minute mark on an analogue clock is exactly where the 3 hours mark is.

Psst! The hour hand moves, too!

7.5 degrees, as per my post on the first page.

Stacks only grow down.

Nope stacks usually grow down not always

Example Linux 2.6 on a PA-RISC is upward growing

http://licensing.steeleye.com/support/papers/HP_World_2003_parisc.pdf
Page 10

I once went to a job interview where I was asked

1 why are man hole covers round?
2 how many leaves are on an oak tree? I totally said "4" and they said :confused: and I said "it's autumn, those will fall off soon enough"
1. Not all manhole covers are. I've seen some which are square. Regardless, the cover won't fall through no matter which angle you turn it.
2. As many as is necessary to keep it warm.

Some of them questions in the OP I've was told years ago as being the questions Microsoft asked it's potential employees.
Which makes me wonder as to their veracity.
still cool though

Yes, the *marks* are indeed in the same place. The question, however, refers to the placement of the hands.
My hands are down my trousers while I look at the clock. And the porn on the TV next to the clock.

9) First propose that if a woman knows of N cheating men she will kill her husband on the (N+1)th day if nobody has died on a previous day.

Holds true for N=0 since she knows at least 1 person cheated so it must be her husband, so he dies on day 1.

Assume true for N=(x-1). Now if Woman A sees N=x cheating husbands either her husband cheated or he didn't.
If he didn't cheat then all the women who were cheated on would have seen (x-1) cheating men (all the ones the first woman saw minus their own husband) and so on the xth day will kill their husbands.
So the woman who sees x cheating husbands will see the bloodbath sometime on the xth day and conclude that her husband didn't cheat.

If there is no bloodbath then on the xth day she must conclude that everybody saw at least x cheating men. So the women who Woman A knows cheated must see x, the x that Woman A sees minus their own husband plus Woman A's husband. So she will kill her husband on the (x+1)th day.

Done.

Now given that there are K(>0) cheating husbands, all of them (and only them) will die on the Kth day.

aka a permutation? Or am I mixing that with a combination?

12. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)
Made me think of this cartoon:
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/insomnia.png

12. If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer to this is not zero!)
Made me think of this cartoon:
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/insomnia.pngCrap, I have a levitation class at 25:131. Better set the alarm to 'cinnamon'.

I know the answer to this one:
The subject of this sentence, "a clock's hands" is plural, and, therefore, the proper conjugation of the verb is "do." The question should be restated as "How many times a day do a clock's hands overlap." Now go back to your bong, you hipster shit head, and quit asking me stupid questions.

HA!!! Well spotted!

Is Google's motto still 'do no evil' ?

HA!!! Well spotted!

Is Google's motto still 'do no evil' ?

I don't think so!

:D

HA!!! Well spotted!

Is Google's motto still 'do no evil' ?
They've changed it slightly when they opened in China.
It's now, "do no more evil than is absolutely necessary"

1. Not all manhole covers are. I've seen some which are square. Regardless, the cover won't fall through no matter which angle you turn it.
I know that, I don't think my idiot interviewer did though, he asked all sorts of idiotic questions, like the Grant's tomb one and the 'where do you bury the survivors?' one......he was shocked that I had answers at all.
2. As many as is necessary to keep it warm.
he wanted a specific number.

he wanted a specific number.

Pi? 42? X?

13. Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in 1 minute, another in 2 minutes, the third in 5 minutes, and the slow poke takes 10 minutes to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?


is this possible?

The bridge can support 2 people. Get the person who can cross it in 1 min to carry each person across and have the person he is carrying hold the flashlight.

The bridge can support 2 people. Get the person who can cross it in 1 min to carry each person across and have the person he is carrying hold the flashlight.

ooo i like that. its even better if the cannibals are following 17 minutes behind!

i hope none of them is overweight.

Nope stacks usually grow down not always

Example Linux 2.6 on a PA-RISC is upward growing

http://licensing.steeleye.com/support/papers/HP_World_2003_parisc.pdf
Page 10

Made up software convention doesn't count.

ooo i like that. its even better if the cannibals are following 17 minutes behind!

i hope none of them is overweight.

Well I can carry people on my back who are maybe 5 stone heavier than me so so along as they werent TOO overweight :D. The only flaw in my solution could be that you dont know how long it takes the person who can cross the bridge in 1 min to cross it with a person on their back.

Well I can carry people on my back who are maybe 5 stone heavier than me so so along as they werent TOO overweight :D. The only flaw in my solution could be that you dont know how long it takes the person who can cross the bridge in 1 min to cross it with a person on their back.

The trick to figuring out that question is to make the slowest and second slowest cross together, so that the second slowest doesn't take up any additional time. Once you work that out, the rest falls into place.

Mapquest it. :D

I do... but do I WANT to work for Google?


Obviously not, or else you would have said Google Maps.

Well, not if they have no sense of humor, certainly!

Made up software convention doesn't count.Well, modern hardware doesn't enforce an upwards growing stack, or a downwards growing stack; it is purely software convention now.

The trick to figuring out that question is to make the slowest and second slowest cross together, so that the second slowest doesn't take up any additional time. Once you work that out, the rest falls into place.

seems like there's multiple ways, as I think of it...

The trick to figuring out that question is to make the slowest and second slowest cross together, so that the second slowest doesn't take up any additional time. Once you work that out, the rest falls into place.

there is no one correct answer. its not math.

as long as they all get across in time, the question is answered.

i was going to go with

"me and the guy i like best cross first, when we are safe, we shine the light back across the bridge and let the other 2 take their chances"

there is no one correct answer. its not math.

as long as they all get across in time, the question is answered.

i was going to go with

"me and the guy i like best cross first, when we are safe, we shine the light back across the bridge and let the other 2 take their chances"

Actually, that one really IS about math, and there is one correct answer.

Actually, that one really IS about math, and there is one correct answer.

oh really?

seems to me that having the fastest guy carry the slower guys is a correct answer.

We have no information on laden speeds so that may not be the best course solution to attempt with limited battery supply.

But yes, it isn't a trick question.

We have no information on laden speeds so that may not be the best course solution to attempt with limited battery supply.

But yes, it isn't a trick question.

very true.

but as an interview question creativity (probably) counts.

Made up software convention doesn't count.

Arnt these things only a software convention? I am pretty sure it is OS based not hardware based.

Edit: And looking into it further it can be even application based there are some cool ideas with Twin stacks growing towards each other or away depending