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You'll get full score even if you don't know the matrix solution, just doing a memoized recursive one is enough. However if you had that specific knowledge then
by username90 6y ago
You'll get full score even if you don't know the matrix solution, just doing a memoized recursive one is enough. However if you had that specific knowledge then they still test whether they have the skills to apply esoteric knowledge correctly which is also very valuable.
Anyway, Google no longer has this question. Once it gets known outside Google bans it from interviews. Sometimes people give banned questions but in general they don't and it is taken into account. I remember it being popular as a question 4 years ago, popular questions tend to leak quickly and get banned though.
- Gunax 6y agoAccording to the blog post, the interviewers weren't even aware of the matrix solution until one candidate brought it up.
- KnobbleMcKnees 6y agoI assume they all immediately handed in their letters of resignation and/or hired the candidate in as a principle engineer. Sarcasm aside, the very fact that they ban questions demonstrates how useless these types of questions really are. If you ban it because people might know it due to its popularity then what are you testing for? I thought it was for whether a candidate could solve the problem, but it appears to be to check which percentile of a special 'knowledge' club they belong to...