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Companies from Wall Street to Silicon Valley are discarding traditional softball interview questions in favor of brain crunching teasers, riddles and logic puzzles.
[darwinmag.com...]
Halfway down the page are a few decent riddles.
Puzzle 7: How would you weigh a Boeing 747 without using scales?
Desired Response: There are many solutions, but one elegant response is that you put the jet on a large boat and paint a mark on the hull where the water line is. Now remove the jet and the boat rises. Then, load the ship with items of known weight until it sinks to the line you painted. The total weight of the items will equal the weight of the jet.
Elegant?!? I don't think so. There's an easier weigh [pun intended], assuming you don't have a boat, a body of water, a crane large enough to lift the plane onto the boat, and enough junk to equal the weight of a 747.
In fact, it can be done with just a ruler and a tire gauge...
Enact the 1845 law that Texas can be broken down into 4 states. This eliminates a state, but actually doesn't eliminate any land area, and gains 3 states, making a flag with 53.
Interviewers have used similar questions for at least thirty years - I know, I flubbed them way back when!
The other fun interview question type is the "management" or "delegation" question: an involved scenario is given and an instant solution demanded. Regardless of given situation the correct response being to turn to an assistant and say: "take care of this."
How would you weigh a Boeing 747 without using scales?
[google.com...]
or.. you know, check the manual.
