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If you were interviewing for a software engineering position, that question makes sense - that reads to me like an algorithm problem (albeit a three-dimensional
by mdisraeli 13y ago
If you were interviewing for a software engineering position, that question makes sense - that reads to me like an algorithm problem (albeit a three-dimensional one). There's also a couple of other roles for which it would make sense.
The big problem with that question is "cake". Mappings change our entire perception of a scenario (The mass-grave-filling problem of Tetris being a classic example). Cakes have tops, bottoms, fillings, decoration, and so on. This makes a perfectly reasonable question into something much more nasty
- gaylemcd 13y agoYep. I don't like questions like that, mainly because -- whether it's really an algorithm question or not -- candidates will feel it's a brainteasers. Given that there are more than enough questions that won't be perceived as brainteasers, there's no reason to ask one that might be. This is the same issue I have with the egg drop problem. It can be logically deduced and so it's sort of a fair question for a software engineer. But, given the abundance of more relevant algorithm questions, there's just no reason to ask it. Ultimately what it comes down to is this: brainteasers are banned and have always been (or at least for a very, very long time). However, since everyone defines brainteasers a little differently, you could still get a question that you feel is a brainteaser.