Oddball interview questions from tech companies

I went to an interview with I'm sure everyone knows ... and received :

If you're sitting a plane, how likely are you to chat to the person next to you?

Also, got a ton of technical terms that I had to mention in my own words ... proxy, spoof, IPSEC, DDOS etc and the role wasn't technical at all. While I understand having some technical background in a non technical role helps, it was far too heavy.

Then on top that, I didn't get single question with regards to the role I was applying for
 
You have 8 pennies, 7 weigh the same, one weighs less. You also have a judge’s scale. Find the one that weighs less in less than 3 steps.
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I would never work at Intel
 
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BSoD said:
This one is pretty simple. Divide them in half and put 4 on each side. One side will be lighter. From those 4, do the same, 2 on each side. One side will again be lighter. Repeat this step with one on each side and you have your answer.

This one seems more like a logic question and doesnt seem odd at all.
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Which is 3 steps. You had to do it in "less than 3 steps" :p
 
BSoD said:
This one is pretty simple. Divide them in half and put 4 on each side. One side will be lighter. From those 4, do the same, 2 on each side. One side will again be lighter. Repeat this step with one on each side and you have your answer.

This one seems more like a logic question and doesnt seem odd at all.
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Simple actually. You use the same method for the Facebook question.
 
Glipsie said:
Which is 3 steps. You had to do it in "less than 3 steps" :p
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Which means you'll need to divide into 3, 3, 2.
1. weigh the 3 and 3...
1.1. If they're equal then weigh the 2 -> 2 steps.
1.2. If the one is lighter, then divide into 1, 1, 1 and weigh any 2 of those... -> 2 steps
 
henry1103 said:
I thought the minimum for the fb question is 1 guess (with 1 in 1000 chance of getting the correct answer).
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I understand it to mean, minimum questions to get 100% chance of correct answer.

I got 9.

1. You guess 500.
2. Guess 250 or 750 depending on the higher or lower answer.
3. Guess 125 or 875 depending on the higher or lower answer.
4. etc
 
Facebook: Given the numbers 1 to 1000, what is the minimum number of guesses needed to find a specific number if you are given the hint “higher” or “lower” for each guess you make.
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Since the sentence implies the numbers are sorted, the answer is upper bounded by Log2(1000) if you use a binary search algorithm which is close to Log(1024) which is 10.
 
Chevron said:
I understand it to mean, minimum questions to get 100% chance of correct answer.
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Yeah that's the trick part, there's no mentioning "100% chance of correct answer", so minimum is 1, else it's 10 doing the binary dividing technique.
 
viven said:
I think the answer is one. You could guess the number on your first go.
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The question implies that they want to use a binary search.

Anyway these questions are pretty meh compared to the questions that Google asks (and subsequently made an AI to answer)
http://puzzles.nigelcoldwell.co.uk/thirtynine.htm

An executioner lines up 100 prisoners single file and puts a red or a blue hat on each prisoner's head. Every prisoner can see the hats of the people in front of him in the line - but not his own hat, nor those of anyone behind him. The executioner starts at the end (back) and asks the last prisoner the colour of his hat. He must answer "red" or "blue." If he answers correctly, he is allowed to live. If he gives the wrong answer, he is killed instantly and silently. (While everyone hears the answer, no one knows whether an answer was right.) On the night before the line-up, the prisoners confer on strategy to help them. What should they do?
Click to expand...
 
BSoD said:
I would never work at Intel
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They ask these types of questions to see how well you can solve problems and test your level of logic...especially if you're applying for a role which requires an analytical mind, like software development.

henry1103 said:
Which means you'll need to divide into 3, 3, 2.
1. weigh the 3 and 3...
1.1. If they're equal then weigh the 2 -> 2 steps.
1.2. If the one is lighter, then divide into 1, 1, 1 and weigh any 2 of those... -> 2 steps
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This is how a good programmer's mind works. Splitting the coins into 2 groups of 4 will not solve the problem in less than 3 steps :)
 
beans100 said:
The answer to the Amazon question is also 1......right?
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If they're asking for minimum games, then I think it's also 1, but since they didn't specify minimum, my answer would be along the lines of "as many as it takes" or "it depends".
 
Dolby said:
I went to an interview with I'm sure everyone knows ... and received :

If you're sitting a plane, how likely are you to chat to the person next to you?
Click to expand...

It's entirely up to you and defines your character, so 100% if you want to be seen as extrovert in the interview.
 
I understand what they were doing and why it was important - but used in conjunction with skills, experience, track record etc.

In my experience someone managing a product doesn't need to be extrovert ; that's why we have sales people to maintain the relationships and customer facing. I'd have thought more focus elsewhere.
 
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I got asked once if the violence in video games could cause adverse affects on a person. I can't remember what I answered but we did chat about GTA San Andreas afterwards.
 
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