5 ms·

These seem pretty challenging for a 5 year old. I am pretty sure if I was interviewing senior engineers this would stump them - and I would get walk outs: https

These seem pretty challenging for a 5 year old. I am pretty sure if I was interviewing senior engineers this would stump them - and I would get walk outs: https://i.imgur.com/lRfEQOs.png https://i.imgur.com/lRfEQOs.png (from his book).

HarryHirsch 5y ago
You'd get walkouts? Any person with normal intelligence and average facility with math realizes within 3 minutes that (2*3)-5 = 1. People who have trouble with that problem have no guts.
- Arnavion 5y ago
  random1538 didn't say what kind of engineers they were hiring, but if it was software engineers I'd be confused by it too. I know the solution to the problem, but only because I've seen it before and thus know the method to solve it. If they were hiring cooks / chemists / anyone that is expected to have experience with measuring liquid volumes, it might make sense to assume they have the experience needed to solve this problem.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- thereare5lights 5y ago
  This requires realizing that you can stop pouring. It isn't as in your face obvious as you're making it out to be.
  - bigyikes 5y ago
    The solution became immediately obvious to me after reading your comment. This leads me to believe that the question isn’t testing for math ability nor intelligence. It just requires you to realize the trick. Maybe it tests for creativity / lateral thinking ability?
    - cema 5y ago
      It is not a trick so much as thinking what kinds of operations can be done with these vessels and water. Not necessarily a good interview question, but may be a good discussion with a young student.
Someone 5y ago
The search tree for that isn’t very wide. At every step, there are at most 6 things you can do: fill vessel A/B from the tap, empty vessel A/B in the sink, fill up vessel A/B from vessel B/A. That sounds bad, but most of them return you to earlier states. ‘Drawing’ a transition graph until you hit a solution in your head can be done in less than a minute. On paper, it shouldn’t take more than 2.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
teekert 5y ago
Guess they didn’t watch Die Hard ;) [0] [0]: https://youtu.be/2vdF6NASMiE https://youtu.be/2vdF6NASMiE
userbinator 5y ago
According to a famous blog post, many "senior engineers" also can't do FizzBuzz either. 5 - 3 = 2. 3 - 2 = 1.
908B64B197 5y ago
Where are you finding these guys?

HarryHirsch 5y ago

You'd get walkouts? Any person with normal intelligence and average facility with math realizes within 3 minutes that (2*3)-5 = 1. People who have trouble with that problem have no guts.

Arnavion 5y ago
random1538 didn't say what kind of engineers they were hiring, but if it was software engineers I'd be confused by it too. I know the solution to the problem, but only because I've seen it before and thus know the method to solve it. If they were hiring cooks / chemists / anyone that is expected to have experience with measuring liquid volumes, it might make sense to assume they have the experience needed to solve this problem.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
thereare5lights 5y ago
This requires realizing that you can stop pouring. It isn't as in your face obvious as you're making it out to be.
- bigyikes 5y ago
  The solution became immediately obvious to me after reading your comment. This leads me to believe that the question isn’t testing for math ability nor intelligence. It just requires you to realize the trick. Maybe it tests for creativity / lateral thinking ability?
  - cema 5y ago
    It is not a trick so much as thinking what kinds of operations can be done with these vessels and water. Not necessarily a good interview question, but may be a good discussion with a young student.

Someone 5y ago

The search tree for that isn’t very wide. At every step, there are at most 6 things you can do: fill vessel A/B from the tap, empty vessel A/B in the sink, fill up vessel A/B from vessel B/A. That sounds bad, but most of them return you to earlier states. ‘Drawing’ a transition graph until you hit a solution in your head can be done in less than a minute. On paper, it shouldn’t take more than 2.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

teekert 5y ago

Guess they didn’t watch Die Hard ;) [0] [0]: https://youtu.be/2vdF6NASMiE https://youtu.be/2vdF6NASMiE

userbinator 5y ago

According to a famous blog post, many "senior engineers" also can't do FizzBuzz either. 5 - 3 = 2. 3 - 2 = 1.

908B64B197 5y ago

Where are you finding these guys?