It's a boring problem, but it reveals the candidates' comfort/experience with programming, approach to problem solving, and background knowledge of CS concepts.

It's a boring problem, but it reveals the candidates' comfort/experience with programming, approach to problem solving, and background knowledge of CS concepts. Those are things I'd want to know when hiring a candidate. These questions are used to determine competency. If these are the only questions being asked in an interview, that is cause for concern. But they are useful for weeding out underqualified candidates.