Interview puzzle Questions
(Interview puzzles asked in Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon etc)
We are born with five senses but successful people have a sixth sense-common sense. Common sense is the ability to see things as they are and do them as ought to be done. The application of education and knowledge without common sense is meaningless. -- Shiv khera(You can Win)Following are few very interesting and practical sample common sense questions .(Find answers at the end of this page)(Difference between Focusing on Problems and Focusing on Solutions)
1.When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater,in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.Whats the easiest way?
2.One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan 's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly! line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt,they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so. But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution.What would be that?
3. The path to enlightenment lies behind one of two doors. In front of each door stands a guard who knows which door leads to enlightenment, but one of the guards always lies and the other one always tells the truth. In your search for enlightenment, you are allowed to ask one guard only one question that can be answered "yes" or "no", but unfortunately, you do not know which guard is the liar. You will be banished to the dungeon of logical illiteracy if you fail in your quest. What question should you ask to find the path to enlightenment?
4. A set of three light switches are located in the first floor of a building. Only one of them turns on a light on the second floor. The other two switches do nothing. If you can only go up the stairs one time, and you can't see the second floor light from the first floor, how can you be sure which switch turns on the second floor light?
5. If you put a coin in an empty bottle and insert a cylindrical cork into the neck of the bottle, how could you remove the coin without taking the cork out or breaking the bottle?
6. You've been sentenced to death in an obscure foreign country which has a strange law. Before the sentence is carried out, two papers --one with "LIFE" written on it and one with "DEATH" written on it --are folded up and placed in a hat. You are permitted to pick out one of the papers (without looking), and if you choose the one with "LIFE" written on it, you are set free. Otherwise, the death sentence is carried out. On this occasion, a mean-spirited acquaintenance of yours, bent on your demise, has substituted the paper with "LIFE" written on it with another one with "DEATH" written on it. This person gleefully informs you of what he has done and that you are doomed to die. You are not permitted to speak to anyone about this misdeed, nor will you have a chance to switch the papers or the hat yourself in time. How will you avoid certain death?
7.how many times 4 should be subtracted from 41 so that u don't get negative number.
8.A team of
N players, where
N is at least three, are randomly assigned hats that are equally likely to be white or black, under conditions such that:
- There is at least one black and one white hat assigned;
- Each team player can see the hats of the other team members, but cannot see their own hat;
- Team members cannot communicate in any way.
Hypothetically, there are N prisoners, but there was not enough space for all of them. The jailer decides to give them a test, and if all of them succeed in answering it, he will release them, whereas if any one of them answers incorrectly, then he will kill all of them. He describes the test as follows:
I will put a hat, either white or black, on the head of each of you. You can see others' hats, but you can't see your own hat. You are given 20 minutes. I will place at least one white hat and at least one black hat. All of you should tell me the colour of the hat on your head. You can't signal to others or give a hint or anything like that. You should say only WHITE or BLACK. You can go and discuss for a while now.
All of them go and discuss for some time. And after they come back, he starts the test. Interestingly, each of them answers correctly and hence all are released.How?
9.Three coworkers would like to know their average salary. how can they do it, without disclosing their own salaries?
10.If 2 of the following statements are false, what chance is there that the egg came first? Round to the nearest whole percent. Note: If any part of a statement is false, then the entire statement must be false.
A. The chicken came first.
B. The egg came first.
C. A is false, & B is true.
Scroll down for answers
Answers:
5.Push the cork inside
6.Choose one the paper and eat that.They will be forced to see the other paper which surely will have DEATH written on it.So he will be set free.Yupee
7.41-4=37 is always +ve no matter how many times u do. :)
8.Each prisoner counts the number of white hats and black hats they see, and waits for 10N seconds, where N is the lower of the two numbers. After that time, (providing the other prisoners are all doing the same thing), he must be wearing the hat of the colour which he is seeing fewer of.
- Everyone wearing a white hat will see W − 1 white hats and B black hats.
- Everyone wearing a black hat will see B − 1 black hats and W white hats.
- If W < B then all white hats will say 'White' at the same time (10(W − 1) seconds), and everyone else knows they are wearing black.
- If B < W then all black hats will say 'Black' at the same time (10(B − 1) seconds), and everyone else knows they are wearing white.
- If W = B then all prisoners will know their colour at the same time. (10(B − 1) seconds, or 10(W − 1) seconds, they are equivalent).
9.let salaries of persons A,B,C be x,y,z resp. A person will do operation n*x where n is any positive number and he will
write it in a paper and send it to B. He tells B to add his salary to the sum and same is done with C. Now paper again comes to A. It contains k=n*x+y+z. A will subtract(n-1)*x from the K and he will divide it by 3 to get the answer .
10.C must always be false, because it is impossible for A & B to both be false AND C to be true. If C is false, B is also false.
Therefore answer is zero.