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Common "Thinking" Interview Questions

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  1. Which is the odd number out?
    1. thirty-six?
    2. Sixty-four?
    3. Seventy-Two?
    4. Twenty-five?
    5. Eighty-one?
    Seventy-Two (not square of) Type of questions for primitive companies.
  2. A large sheet of paper is 0.1 mm thick. A man amuses himself by tearing it in half and putting both pieces together, and then tearing those into four sheets, and repeating the process until he has done it twenty-five times. How high is the stack of paper now?
    1. as thick as a book
    2. as high as a man
    3. as high as a house
    4. as high as a mountain
    (d), because every time the sheet is devided by 2 that means that the final height is 0.1mm*(2^^25) approx. 3.3km
  3. In a car race the Audi was 3 places ahead of the Mercedes. The Ferrari was 2 places ahead of the Renault and the Ligier was somewhere between the Mercedes and Ferrari.
    In what position was the Ligier in none of the cars were level (tied) and there were only five cars?
    4. 2. You should start drawing 5 position _ _ _ _ _ on the paper. Then, you quickly realize that Mercedes can be only in position 4 or 5 if Audi is in position 1 or 2 respectively:
    M _ _ A _ or _ M _ _ A
    Now we have only one way for each option to place Ferrari and Renault and realize that Ligier might be only in the position 2.
  4. Why are chairs with 3 legs more stable than chairs with 4 legs?
    5. The interviewer obviously want to hear "3 points are always located on the the plane (a known geometry axiom), but if you take in account a phisical aspect, this may be not true.
  5. Calculate the number of gas stations/stairs/chairs in the USA/Canada?
    6. Here is how it gets solved. You estimate the number of people living in the US. Say, 370 million. Then you say that every 10th american has a car. Then you say that each car drives 50000 km/year (we said "lets estimate") and burns 10 liters per 100 km. After your estimate how much gas you need each year for all cars, you estimate the capacity of one gas station and divide the need for gas with that capacity.
    You can circumvent the question (with unsecure outcome) by asking: "What century is the calculation for?" or "how about solar cars".
  6. Why are manhole covers circular?
    7. Caps are round because:
    1. round form can cover more surface with the same amount of iron;
    2. all underground canalisation canals (and also "paths" leading to them) are round because round form can stand the most of the pressure;
    3. if the cap falls through, it will stop before some worker at the bottom gets hit.
  7. You are given two containers for water: 3L and 5L respectfully and a lot of water around. How would you get 4L of water?
    8. There are a few possible solutions, one is based on the fact that (3+3-5+3 = 4) and another one is based on the fact 5-(3-(5-3)) = 4:
    1. Fill B and flush it into A --> 3L in A
    2. Refill B and flush again into A --> 1L left in B
    3. Empty A and flush B into it --> 1L in A
    4. Fill in B and flush in A again --> 4L in A

    Another solution to the same problem (even shorter one!) is like this:

    1. Fill up A and flush into B to fill --> 2L left in A;
    2. Empty B and flush A into B --> 2L in B;
    3. Fill up A and flush it into B to fill --> 4L left in A