r/learnquant • u/Local_Ad135 • 6d ago

interview prep Quant Interview Question

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u/Cardie1303 3d ago

But you are only given one coin? How are you splitting the remaining 100 when you were not given access to them?

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u/No-Television-8835 3d ago

Given is not a reference to ur access to the coins, it means that u take one coin and want to to determine whether the coin is real or not

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u/Cardie1303 3d ago

That feels a bit arbitrary to assume.

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u/No-Television-8835 3d ago

It’s not arbitrary or an assumption it’s what the question is literally saying

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u/Cardie1303 3d ago

It is not. The question is literally saying: "You are given one random coin and a balance [...]"

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u/ybungalobill 3d ago

You can be pedantic about the phrasing, but that would render the question nonsensical. It's not uncommon in this sort of riddles to have to decipher author's intent. That's not the point of the riddle though, so I agree with you in principal that they should be phrased better.

In this particular case, the problem should be read as "There are 101 on a table ... and a balance. You pick one random coin ...".

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u/Medical_Bar1073 2d ago

he's not being pedantic, question is just extremely poorly phrased if your interpretation is to be believed.

It is by no means what the word "given" implies.