> I think this is something you've studied and have entirely lost perspective. I've studied programming sure; anyone who's studied programming should have no p

> I think this is something you've studied and have entirely lost perspective. I've studied programming sure; anyone who's studied programming should have no problem with this. In terms of this particular problem, not really. I've come across it before, and understood it immediately then as well. I think you are fundamentally misunderstanding the process/reason behind such a question. > For example, does the triangle already exist or are we generating it/calculating it? Are we to iterate over the table? And if so then how? What data format is it in? These aren't reasonable/good questions. That is, only a person who hasn't paid attention, misunderstood the question, etc would ask these. They represent a flaw in the reader, not the problem as it was phrased. I think the issue here is you just don't understand the process and reasoning behind this question. You seem to think it's some sort of "gotcha" when that's not the case at all. There's absolutely no reason you can't ask questions like you pose. Everyone sometimes has issues with the way things are worded...and being able to ask for clarification is important. I don't see how your explanation improves anything; it doesn't add any information it's just more explicit and convoluted. Many (I'd say most) programmers can solve the problem easily the first time they encounter it with no background knowledge whatsoever. I did it, as have many others. There will be many people who need a little help, that's fine...this is not a test to weed them out. It's to weed out the people who don't ask for a little help, or just can't do it at all.