Posted on 08/05/2011 10:53:16 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
Nobody has to tell you that it’s a rough job market. So when you do finagle a job interview, you’ll want to shine.
-snip-
Procter & Gamble: Sell me an invisible pen.
Facebook: Twenty five racehorses, no stopwatch, five tracks. Figure out the top three fastest horses in the fewest number of races.
Citigroup: What is your strategy at table tennis?
Google: You are climbing a staircase. Each time you can either take one step or two. The staircase has n steps. In how many distinct ways can you climb the staircase?
Capital One: How do you evaluate Subway’s five-foot long sub policy?
Gryphon Scientific: How many cocktail umbrellas are there in a given time in the United States?
Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Would you be okay hearing “no” from seven out of 10 customers.
Goldman Sachs: Suppose you had eight identical balls. One of them is slightly heavier and you are given a balance scale. What’s the fewest number of times you have to use the scale to find the heavier ball?
Towers Watson: Estimate how many planes are there in the sky.
Lubin Lawrence: If you could describe Hershey, Godiva and Dove chocolate as people, how would you describe them?
Pottery Barn: If I was a genie and could give you your dream job, what and where would it be?
Kiewit Corp.: What did you play with as a child?
VWR International: How would you market a telescope in 1750 when no one knows about orbits, moons etc.
Diageo North America: If you walk into a liquor store to count the unsold bottles, but the clerk is screaming at you to leave, what do you do?
Brown & Brown Insurance: How would you rate your life on a scale of 1 to 10?
(Excerpt) Read more at moneywatch.bnet.com ...
Light bulbs—i actually aced this one in an interview.
You go feel for the warm bulb after turning off the light.
I got the job. Company went under. :0)
Seems a bit like cheating. ;-)
light bulbs...again:
Actually your question is a variant of the one i got. Looks like in yours you have to leave one on a long time, one a shorter time, and then go feel for the hot, warm and cold bulbs.
Actually, the question is illogical. If the balls are identical, then they all weigh the same.
If your potential boss asks you “how much is 2 plus 2” you answer “whatever you want it to be” ... you WILL get the job.
If by "smallest number" you mean smallest integer, then the answer is 25. If "smallest number" includes negative numbers, then there is no answer.
25 / 225 = 0.111111111111111111111.......
I think you misread the question...
See #29.
The Google question: They want to see if you will try a combinatorial approach or quickly use induction to prove it is a Fibonacci series. Where’s my job?
Now, using a balance scale, a scale that has no numbers indicating weight, consisting of two plates weighing one side against the other, how many times do you have to use the scale to find out which of the eight balls is the heavier one?
The fewest attempts happens when you weigh the heavier ball first. You first weigh one of the lighter balls against it, and a second to see the same scale movement, confirming that it's the heaviest.
My answer is two.
(Yes, I spelled your name wrong)
How about this question for all members of congress:
You have 2 trillion in revenue, but spend 1.7 trillion more than that. How long before you get kicked out of congress?
Sure that makes the question clearer if that was the intent of the question, but the question wasn’t asked that way.
Easy. Leave one off, leave one on, and turn the other on for a minute, then off. Then go upstairs. The on will be obvious, and the two that are off can be determined by which bulb is cold, and which is warm to the touch.
yeah, you turn two on, leave one off. wait 5 minutes, turn another one off, then go upstairs and look for the two unlit rooms. feel the bulb, if it is still warm you know that was the one you left on for 5 minutes, if cold, then you know it was the one you left off, the one that is illuminated is quite obvious (helps to have light when you go upstairs to check).
It took 70 posts before the correct answer. Well done Bird!
That answer won’t get him the job. We don’t want no smart alecks here!
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