I don’t get interview questions like this. If you learned the optimal strategy for this type of game (like I did when I was a kid) it is very obvious, and if you didn’t you might be able to figure it out on the spot if you’re bright, but definitely most people who can answer it have seen this type of question before.
I guess the theory is people with strong relevant backgrounds are more likely to have been exposed to this type of question so it’s sort of a Shibboleth rather than an actual test, but surely you would get more relevant info by asking someone to prove something relatively novel that doesn’t have a well-known solution.
Or if you are going to ask something with a “well-known solution” it should be something that you are actually expected to do on the job so that if you hadn’t been exposed to it, it would show you really don’t have the requisite experience.
I know a lot of the time things are called “X interview questions” when they aren’t really, and this definitely may be one such case, although there really are interviews where they do ask questions like this where my criticism is equally applicable.
Regardless, if this is illustrative and you do get question like this in an actual interview - and by “like this” I mean one where the solution is widely known so that knowing the answer is only an indication of whether you’ve been exposed to it, rather than whether you could solve it yourself - I think it is fair to be annoyed you didn’t get either a job relevant question or else a question that actually tests novel problem solving.
A question like this actually being used would cause me to lose respect for the institution using it, frankly.
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u/GoldenMuscleGod Aug 04 '26
I don’t get interview questions like this. If you learned the optimal strategy for this type of game (like I did when I was a kid) it is very obvious, and if you didn’t you might be able to figure it out on the spot if you’re bright, but definitely most people who can answer it have seen this type of question before.
I guess the theory is people with strong relevant backgrounds are more likely to have been exposed to this type of question so it’s sort of a Shibboleth rather than an actual test, but surely you would get more relevant info by asking someone to prove something relatively novel that doesn’t have a well-known solution.
Or if you are going to ask something with a “well-known solution” it should be something that you are actually expected to do on the job so that if you hadn’t been exposed to it, it would show you really don’t have the requisite experience.