[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;33940618]Like this:
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/shitty_cover.png[/img][/QUOTE]
He never said he was talking about the manhole cover, so my question is perfectly valid. I never asked about the cover either, I asked why he thought a circle couldn't fall into a circular manhole.
[QUOTE=mobrockers2;33949457]He never said he was talking about the manhole cover, so my question is perfectly valid. I never asked about the cover either, I asked why he thought a circle couldn't fall into a circular manhole.[/QUOTE]
Why would you bother to ask that then? He was obviously talking about the cover; that was the entire conversation.
[QUOTE=DoctorSalt;33940326]I've also heard [sp]because a circle can't possibly fall into a circular manhole, while a square cover can fall into a square manhole[/sp][/QUOTE]
also it's possible to roll circular manholes to transport them
also they use slightly less material
also plenty of other reasons which I forget
[editline]29th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=DoctorSalt;33940326]I've also heard [sp]because a circle can't possibly fall into a circular manhole, while a square cover can fall into a square manhole[/sp][/QUOTE]
also it's possible to roll circular manholes to transport them
also they use slightly less material
also plenty of other reasons which I forget
[QUOTE=acds;33939256]Take one lightbulb, try it on the first floor, unscrew it, try it again on the second and so on until it breaks. Nowhere does it state that you can't use one for several floors.[/QUOTE]
I'm pretty sure it's assumed that once a light bulb is broken it can't be fixed. The most optimal way of solving the problem is a quicksort-esque solution. Start by dropping one on floor 50. Depending on whether it breaks, add or subtract half the remaining floors.
Worst-case you'll use 7 light bulbs. Also you won't spend a bunch of time retrieving the single light bulb. that you drop to each floor.
[QUOTE=cdlink14;33941882]This reminds me of a exercise book I was asked to use at a group job interview.
The exercise book had a list of objectives you must do.
It went something like this:
1.) Draw a circle in the top left.
2.) Draw a square inside the circle
3.) Draw a triangle in the top right
4.) Shout your name out
etc.
The trick to it was, the 10th instruction stated "only do the first 3 instructions".
So whilst I sat there having completed the 3 tasks. I waited, and every other person in the room shouted their name.
They didn't get the job as they clearly didn't read through the objective list before following the instructions.
I think this technique should be standard in jobs which failure to follow instructions, could lead to death/injury.[/QUOTE]
That's ridiculous unless it said somewhere at the top to "read all instructions before beginning".
[quote]Given 20 'destructible' light bulbs (which break at a certain height), and a building with 100 floors, how do you determine the height that the light bulbs break?[/quote]
That's a pretty easy question, I can do it in 14 steps with 2 light bulbs only. Drop the first one from the 14th floor, if it breaks, start from the 1st floor and worst case is, it doesn't break on the 13th floor, so it's the 14th floor. If the first one doesn't break, you go up by 14-n, in which n is the number of tries.
So if the bulb breaks after the 6th try (79th floor), you only need to go through the floors 71-78 (8 tries).
Simple, really.
[quote]You're in a row boat, which is in a large tank filled with water. You have an anchor on board, which you throw overboard (the chain is long enough so the anchor rests completely on the bottom of the tank). Does the water level in the tank rise or fall?" (Tesla Motors)[/quote]
Im gonna guess it decreases
[QUOTE=VistaPOWA;33959523]That's a pretty easy question, I can do it in 14 steps with 2 light bulbs only. Drop the first one from the 14th floor, if it breaks, start from the 1st floor and worst case is, it doesn't break on the 13th floor, so it's the 14th floor. If the first one doesn't break, you go up by 14-n, in which n is the number of tries.
So if the bulb breaks after the 6th try (79th floor), you only need to go through the floors 71-78 (8 tries).
Simple, really.[/QUOTE]
Uh, how'd you come up with 14?
[QUOTE=Zeke129;33959234]That's ridiculous unless it said somewhere at the top to "read all instructions before beginning".[/QUOTE]
Not really. It just enforces that people should read something before acting upon it.
Would you sign a contract without at least skimming it first?
What about typing mistakes? Imagine such an environment where you are fixing heavy duty equipment. All it takes is for a single button number to be mis-typed and somebody has lost their life. Sure it may not be your fault as you didn't type the mistake, but you still could of helped save a life by checking the instructions.
One of the main rules I was taught in my last job, was that you are not just responsible for your own life, but for everyone else, and as such you should be on the lookout for any posable danger to them. That danger could be hazardous materials, unsafe areas, or even the typed out instructions that they put their full trust in.
[QUOTE=dgg;33937289]Same method I would use.[/QUOTE]
My method involved going in 10 floor intervals from top to bottom until one breaks, go to the 9th floor below it and test one by one until it finally breaks, then use that as a percentage to subtract from the building height to find the [I]approximate[/I] answer, if you want exact then I that adds a level of complexity, i find a accurate schematic of the building, or even take a dead-on photo my self of it, open it up in GIMP, crop it top-bottom wise to the very bottom and top of the building, scale that to 1,000 pixels vertically, this method is very effective in that it only breaks 2 light bulbs maximum leaving 18 intact, then use the gimp measuring tool to use to measure between the bottom of the building to the exact window I dropped it from then use that as a percentage to subtract from the height, since
[editline]30th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;33937434]If the tank is filled with water, the water level cannot rise, since it would overflow out. Therefore it must fall.[/QUOTE]
If you pull the anchor out, how ever the question was what would happen if you throw it overboard, so in that case the waterlevel would remain the same
I think the binary search algorithm is the most elegant
[QUOTE=cdlink14;33963619]Not really. It just enforces that people should read something before acting upon it.
Would you sign a contract without at least skimming it first?
What about typing mistakes? Imagine such an environment where you are fixing heavy duty equipment. All it takes is for a single button number to be mis-typed and somebody has lost their life. Sure it may not be your fault as you didn't type the mistake, but you still could of helped save a life by checking the instructions.
One of the main rules I was taught in my last job, was that you are not just responsible for your own life, but for everyone else, and as such you should be on the lookout for any posable danger to them. That danger could be hazardous materials, unsafe areas, or even the typed out instructions that they put their full trust in.[/QUOTE]
It's totally different than a contract. When you have a numbered list of instructions it's implied that you do them in order. #20 shouldn't affect #3 unless #3 tells you to read #20 first.
[editline]30th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Broseph_;33966766]
If you pull the anchor out, how ever the question was what would happen if you throw it overboard, so in that case the waterlevel would remain the same[/QUOTE]
Depends on the density of the anchor compared to the weight of the boat
It could be an incredibly heavy but miniscule anchor and it would likely lower the water level if you threw it overboard but if it was massive and light it would raise the water level since it would displace more
[QUOTE=Number-41;33972450]I think the binary search algorithm is the most elegant[/QUOTE]
The binary search algorithm is the obvious answer. If I were being interviewed, I'd talk about that, then say that if I had to do that in real life, I'd just grab one bulb and walk up the stairs until it breaks.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;33959234]That's ridiculous unless it said somewhere at the top to "read all instructions before beginning".[/QUOTE]
It should.
I did one of those tests and they explicitly tell you to read all the instructions first. Most people don't.
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