[number335]

1. I wouldn't design a bicycle for an amputee cuz i don't want to get sued when they crash and lose another limb.

2. I would eliminate Hawaii since most people don't even know it's a state anyway.

3. If manhole covers were square, they wouldn't fit on the hole.

[radix]

These questions are meant to test your thought process, and there is no one correct answer to any of them, however some may be considered more correct than others by the interviewer. That said, here are my answers.

Originally Posted by MDLFCS

1. Design a bicycle for an amputee.

What sort of amputee would the bicycle be designed for? Someone who lost a leg? What about an arm, or even half of a leg and an arm? If we assume a leg, was it amputated at the ankle, or above the knee? My point is that the instructions as given aren't thorough enough to complete even the simplest of preliminary designs. The design specification needs to be more specific.

Originally Posted by MDLFCS

2. If you could eliminate a state out of 50, which one would it be and why?

Since the use of the word "could" implies that I'd have the option not to eliminate any states, I wouldn't, as I see no real reason to do so.

Originally Posted by MDLFCS

3. Why are manhole covers round?

Because manholes are round.

[BTM]

Originally Posted by radix

Because manholes are round.

[radix]

Originally Posted by Nifty

I'll take #3

So in no way could the cover ever fall through the hole. More of a safety feature if anything.

That's a good answer, but a square cover could do the same thing provided the cover's sides were longer than the hypotenuse of the hole. E.g. a 2'x2' manhole would need a cover that whose sides would be no shorter than ~2'10" to insure that it couldn't fall down the hole. Given that, it means that the lip of the manhole would have to be about 5" (maybe 5.5" to provide some more leeway) all around, where as a circular manhole cover only requires about a 1-2" lip. Therefore, the area of steel needed for a square manhole cover to safely cover a 2'x2' manhole cover would be no less than 8'. The area for a circular cover for a manhole two feet in diameter, assuming a one inch lip would be ~3'7" (∏r^2). Assuming both could be fairly easily manufactured, it stands to reason that the underlying reason for the use of a round manhole vs a square one is cost savings.

[335iheLLraiseR]

Originally Posted by BTM

I hope your trolling. DC is not a state. It's a territory. Territories are outside of the sample set the question expressly gives you to work within. The question is which one of the 50 states would you eliminate. If I asked someone which one of the 50 states would they eliminate, and why, and they answered with eliminating DC, they'd get it wrong. It's like asking if you could buy any BMW, what would you buy, and then answering Mercedes S500. It's not a valid answer.

The correct way to write a mailing address lends no further support to your contention that DC is a state. If this holds true, then Puerto Rico is a state abbreviated PR, Guam is a state abbreviated GU, and the Virgin Islands are a state abbreviated VI (etc.) DC is no more a state than any of these places are - how you address an envelope destined for them in no way implicates their existence within statehood.

I dont think he is trolling. I think he actually believes what he just typed.

[lambtron]

Originally Posted by Vanity

For number 1:

If the amputee had no legs, I'd design the bicycle with a motor.

that would be a moped.

[lib]

Originally Posted by MDLFCS

It was for an IT job at a credit union. I never had those questions asked before and was wondering if my responses were incorrect or out of line. In a couple of days after the interview, I was not accepted for the position

It can take some people a few tries before they get a feel for how to interview and the process can be a fairly good learning opportunity. Learn from what you did wrong or didn't know or didn't sell well enough and go kick some ass in the next interview.

Originally Posted by MDLFCS

I had no idea what they were looking for. But like others have mentioned, there is no right or wrong answer.

Be careful with this approach. In order to expose your thought processes, many of the questions you encounter may not have a single correct answer but instead have various shades of correct and incorrect. It's like many other things in life - there are many ways to solve a problem and some of those ways are better than others.

Regardless of what your final answer is, clearly explain what you're thinking and why you're thinking it.

Originally Posted by MDLFCS

#3, I said that the manhole covers are round because they are easier to move around and we needed the heavy weight to keep them down.

Think about what would happen if they were square/rectangular/etc.... Flip it on it's end and rotate 45 degrees and it could fall down the hole. When the cover is round you cannot possibly drop it down the hole. Making the cover round causes the entire thing to be much safer.

In the end, as everyone else pointed out, there are several reasons why they are round. Efficiency, ease of use, strength, saftey - all are contributing factors that ultimately lead to the round shape. That is what makes this a decent question for some interviews. It's extremely simple to communicate the question and doesn't require any complex understanding to answer yet there are multiple answers with various shades of correctness.

[335iheLLraiseR]

i had an interview throw a similar question my way.

He asked me how many golf balls does it take to fill up a school bus. After i took a guess, he asked me how exactly i came up with the number and i explained.

So at the end i asked him what was the correct answer and he said he didnt know, it was question aimed at finding out my thought process in terms of solving a problem.

[MDLFCS]

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses. I will keep them in mind. Not every interview I went asked that kind of tricky questions.

I would not be sure how to answer the golf ball question, though. I understand that there are more than one answer and more correct than others..urggh...

[lib]

Originally Posted by MDLFCS

I would not be sure how to answer the golf ball question, though. I understand that there are more than one answer and more correct than others..urggh...

You have to take a few educated guesses and combine them with some basic math.

First pass would be to just take a rough guess at the length, width and height of the interior of a school bus. That will give you a volume. Then take a rough guess at the size of a golf-ball. Divide the volume of the bus by the volume of a golf ball (plus a little extra if you want to account for the space between the balls, minus a little extra if you want to account for the seats in the bus) and you're in the ball-park. You don't have to be real close with these, you just have to be able to come up with a reasonable way to solve the problem.

The golf-ball one isn't too bad. One of the more interesting ones I've heard was "Estimate the number of gas stations in the United States". There are a couple ways to approaching it but, unlike a lot of these questions, it can be difficult to get a good feeling for whether you're in the ballpark or not.

If you want to get a better feel for these there's a book called "Guesstimation" that contains a lot of examples and approaches for solving them.

[radix]

Originally Posted by lib

You have to take a few educated guesses and combine them with some basic math.

First pass would be to just take a rough guess at the length, width and height of the interior of a school bus. That will give you a volume. Then take a rough guess at the size of a golf-ball. Divide the volume of the bus by the volume of a golf ball (plus a little extra if you want to account for the space between the balls) and you're in the ball-park. You don't have to be real close with these, you just have to be able to come up with a reasonable way to solve the problem.

I'd take a similar, but slightly different approach, the only difference is mine is slightly easier to do mathematically, and has a smaller margin of error.

1. Find out the amount of space in the bus in cubic feet, call this x. Vehicle manufacturers often publish this number.
2. Find out how many golf balls will fit in a cubic foot, call this y.
3. Multiply x and y.

This way the space between the golf balls becomes less of a factor, because it's factored into determining the value of y.

[Freakazoid]

I've never heard of off the wall questions like this...but since I do some of the hiring for my company.... I might have to jump on board with some of these ideas!

[BMW F22]

I would probably say something like "hmmm those are interesting questions. Let me ask you this: if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around...at that same time a train is leaving Chicago for Seattle at 80mph and it's 80* outside, does that tree still make a sound?"

[lib]

Originally Posted by radix

I'd take a similar, but slightly different approach, the only difference is mine is slightly easier to do mathematically, and has a smaller margin of error.

1. Find out the amount of space in the bus in cubic feet, call this x. Vehicle manufacturers often publish this number.
2. Find out how many golf balls will fit in a cubic foot, call this y.
3. Multiply x and y.

This way the space between the golf balls becomes less of a factor, because it's factored into determining the value of y.

The problem with that approach is that it requires you to know the values of x & y. Unfortunately this is in the context of an interview question and you are asked to immediately solve the problem without being given the ability to look up those values.

Originally Posted by Freakazoid

I've never heard of off the wall questions like this...but since I do some of the hiring for my company.... I might have to jump on board with some of these ideas!

Good man! There are far too few evil interviews in the world. Here are a few "interesting" ones to get you started:

• On average, how many people are airborne over the US at any given moment?
• How much space do 1 million people need at a political rally? How many porta-potties?
• How many total miles do all Americans drive every year?
• What volume of gasoline does a typical automobile use in it's lifetime?
• What fraction of the US land area is impervious (ie, roofed, paved, etc)?
• How far does a car travel before a one-molecule layer of rubber is worn off the tires?
• What is the surface area of a typical bath towel, including all fibers?

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by BMW E90

I would probably say something like "hmmm those are interesting questions. Let me ask you this: if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around...at that same time a train is leaving Chicago for Seattle at 80mph and it's 80* outside, does that tree still make a sound?"

word of advice... sarcasm/'wittiness' might work online...do that shit in an interview and you'll have lost the job faster than you thought possible...

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by lib

The problem with that approach is that it requires you to know the values of x & y. Unfortunately this is in the context of an interview question and you are asked to immediately solve the problem without being given the ability to look up those values.


Good man! There are far too few evil interviews in the world. Here are a few "interesting" ones to get you started:

• On average, how many people are airborne over the US at any given moment?
• How much space do 1 million people need at a political rally? How many porta-potties?
• How many total miles do all Americans drive every year?
• What volume of gasoline does a typical automobile use in it's lifetime?
• What fraction of the US land area is impervious (ie, roofed, paved, etc)?
• How far does a car travel before a one-molecule layer of rubber is worn off the tires?
• What is the surface area of a typical bath towel, including all fibers?

hahahah nice lib, I like 'em... volume of gas ehh, that might be too easy that's simple math most people I know could do in their head

~150k/20-25mpg

[Nifty]

Originally Posted by radix

That's a good answer, but a square cover could do the same thing provided the cover's sides were longer than the hypotenuse of the hole. E.g. a 2'x2' manhole would need a cover that whose sides would be no shorter than ~2'10" to insure that it couldn't fall down the hole. Given that, it means that the lip of the manhole would have to be about 5" (maybe 5.5" to provide some more leeway) all around, where as a circular manhole cover only requires about a 1-2" lip. Therefore, the area of steel needed for a square manhole cover to safely cover a 2'x2' manhole cover would be no less than 8'. The area for a circular cover for a manhole two feet in diameter, assuming a one inch lip would be ~3'7" (∏r^2). Assuming both could be fairly easily manufactured, it stands to reason that the underlying reason for the use of a round manhole vs a square one is cost savings.

I thought that was clearly implied in my response.

[radix]

Originally Posted by lib

The problem with that approach is that it requires you to know the values of x & y. Unfortunately this is in the context of an interview question and you are asked to immediately solve the problem without being given the ability to look up those values.

You can still guess the values of x and y, and I think it works well as mental math. If the passenger compartment of a bus is 40 x 10 x 7 ( guess), then you have 2800 cubic feet. If a golf ball is about 2 inches in diameter (guess) then you can fit 216 (6^3) golf balls per cubic foot. So mentally;

216 x 30 = 6480 (step one of shortcut to 28 x 216)
6480 - 432 = 216 x 28 = 6048 (finish shortcut)
6048 .= 00 = 604800 (shortcut to 2800 x 216)

All work done in my head and not checked, so it could be wrong. I guess for me visualizing the space in cubic footage makes it easer, and I'd imagine that dealing with feet rather than inches makes the math somewhat easier as the numbers will be smaller.

[radix]

Hmmm, let me try that in my head your way.

6 x 40 = 240
6 x 10 = 60
6 x 7 = 42

60 x 42 = 2520
250 x 24 = 6000
6000 + 48 = 6048
6048 .= 00 = 604800


At least I ended up with the same number. I dunno, they're both about equal in terms of difficulty. For larger values of x and y I might prefer the cubic foot method though.

[lib]

Originally Posted by Freakazoid

hahahah nice lib, I like 'em... volume of gas ehh, that might be too easy that's simple math most people I know could do in their head

~150k/20-25mpg

It seems too easy but for fun you should ask a few people to answer that one at work on Monday. If I had to play the odds I would bet that a few won't be able to answer it, a few will nail it the way you did and the rest will come up with a solution that is a lot more complicated.

Originally Posted by radix

Hmmm, let me try that in my head your way.

...

At least I ended up with the same number. I dunno, they're both about equal in terms of difficulty. For larger values of x and y I might prefer the cubic foot method though.

Yeah, your method definitely has the advantage with larger volumes. It also wins if they ask you how many of X can fit into multiple things (bus, football stadium, the gulf of mexico, etc)

OK... enough procrastination... back to work for me!

[MDLFCS]

Man, I think I need to bring my calculator to the interviews now!

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Check out the mailing address and you tell me what state it is in. DC (District of Columbia).

They have different rights than other US citizens and it IS it's own state. Didn't you know, the government is better than everyone else.

The District of Columbia is not a state in any place except when you have to fill out mailing address forms, wherein it's simply convenient to put DC in the state field just as one would were one's address in a state.

The US Constitution specifically carves out that DC is not a state, deeming it a federal district. There have for many years been much ado about obtaining statehood for DC. It is the only place in the coterminous United States where US citizens pay taxes and have no voting representation in the federal legislative bodies. The initiatives to provide DC with statehood have been regularly blocked mostly by Republican representatives who know that were DC to gain statehood, there would be two more Democratic senators and at least one more democratic congressperson, for DC is the most Democratic electorate in the nation, having a polity that is highly educated, relatively young, financially well-off, and politically informed.

We residents of the District also have among the highest tax rates in the country and one of the higher costs of living as well. That said, we live in the most beautiful city in the United States and we are largely immune to the economic fluctuations that occur outside the federal city. Indeed, even the DC Metro 'burbs are more susceptible to economic variability than is the District.