These are few of the puzzles from the book.
I try to solve few and give few answers as I found them on several places and the book itself .
All the points I make here are mine (I understand that I can be wrong and I will take any corrections)
These puzzles are from book written by Mr. William Poundstone. You can visit his website at home.williampoundstone.net . I will strongly recommend his book for anyone who likes to read about how different people view different things via puzzles
DISCLAIMER: I have not invented the puzzles nor the solutions. I am just trying to explain my understanding of the problems for in general audience like me
1) The penny size problem : This is directly from the book, No contribution from me. All contributions to William PoundStone
Here is the problem
You are shrunk to the size of a penny. Your mass is reduced but your density remains same. You are thrown in a grinder and the blades start in 60 seconds, what would you do?
As been pointed out always, a good interviewer looks at your approach and others looks at your final answer.
So normal answers would be stick to the wall, get below the blades. stick with the blades, make rope of my shoe laces and climb up etc etc
but in general we do see this problem when we see ants carrying the food. So when a small ant carry the food which ways x number of times greater than its own weight. How can it do that? We never wonder .. the problem was answered in a physics class somewhere in school when at the least I (not sure about) was busy poking friends at the back benches.
so basically if the ant can carry that higher weight than itself , if the shrunk person can jump from the jar and fall of, will he be able to survive. By adding the gravity, fall of speed, height of jar and all other variables, the question comes will you be able to first make a jump of that height and if you can when you land on other side will you be to survive?
The answer to this question is not about how can you get out of the jar but more of can you think about the scale issue. In the today's world most buzzing word around technology is scalability. This problem tells at different scales you do get different benefits with compromising few on different scale.
================================================================
Here is another puzzle
What comes next in series ? SSS --- SCC -- C -- SC ?
When I started looking at this problem, as a grown up person the first thing I started to look at can I find any relation between S and C and their occurrence. *SLAP* to me .. I couldn't. One thing we always lose being grown up is the basic thing.
Second thing lets calculate -- yeah I have studied mathematics I can solve it by maths -- *SLAP* to me
after breaking my head for more than 60 minutes I did gave up. I still claim I did not know the answer and I still dont claim I found the solution. What I got was luck some othertime
On a paper I was drawing face pictures and then I was explaining it to the friend how to make a friend
You first draw two Straight vertical lines and then draw two Curves to connect those lines. Now you draw one small size Straight line and one medium size horizontal Straight line right in the middle of the shape you just draw. Then you draw two inverted Curves one each around the vertical line in the middle. now draw a Circle below the curves and you have a face. and then the lightening struck
SSS - three straight lines
SCC- one line two curves
C - just a curve
SC- line and curve
now as an engineer first thought was trigonometry. Drew all shapes and then left the problem there.
Then you get this answer when you think when start making just the third place single C. can these be just the english alphabets ?
lets try
SSS - three lines - A
SCC - straight line and two curves or circles B
C - just a C (clue)
SC- becomes D
so next is E and it will be SSSS
================================================================
A similar puzzle to above one is like below
1111 = 0
1896 = 4
3564 = 1
8888 = 8
9999 = 4
2222 = 0
5369 = ?
If you looked at the shapes in previous problem there is another way to look at the numbers now
straight lines and circles makes the numbers.
so each line is counting the number of circles in that number and that's one way we look at the problem.
We always forget our natural instinct when someone asks us for puzzle. we get into maths rationalism etc etc. But when we see any monument most of the time we notice the shape.
So I did learn my lesson for not forgetting the shape factor in life. :)
===============================================================
There is one puzzle based on general physics
When there's wind blowing , does the round trip by plane change? Is yes then will it reduce or increase?
Answer to this is Yes the time will increase.
you ask Why?
first of lets forget plane and put a cycle on the road and the wind behind you. It ofcourse increases your speed. Wow now you must be thinking that this idiot just says it takes longer time. Now when you are coming back and the fighting against the wind it will take you forever to reach back.
To simplify more lets look at the boats travelling in sea. When they are going with the tide they are fast but when the tides are against them it just keeps on adding time. Now you may say that plane engines powers etc etc. You can try it mathematically with putting few numbers around the equation and you will find a suitable answer yourself as well :)
================================================================
One puzzle which I loved the most from William's book "Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?"
The below puzzle basically tells how an innovative mind should think and how a hardworking mind can think
Find the next number in the series
10, 9 , 60, 90, 70, 66 , ?
As dumb as I am, this time I was determined to solve this problem without reading the solution in the book.
So routine try to fit the series in some maths equation - fail
try to find relation between numbers - fail
try to some numbers logic around it - fail
After 4 hours i kept the list vertically and I could reach only that far and slept off. Next day while on subway metro I had the paper in hand I was looking at the numbers and was getting bored so I just started writing the numbers again and it did not strike me.
It was more of an itchy feeling that I wanted to get the solution and find the solution. Why not try internet? Yeah when you are not giving interview you can do that but that does not help me cause I will run across the solution everybody has written and i will just read it. And that's what happened after giving it a lot of try.
An INNOVATIVE mind thinks and a hard-working mind sometimes need the help of innovative mind.
10 - ten (3)
9 - nine (4)
60 - sixty (5)
90 - ninety (6)
70 - seventy (7)
66 - sixty-six (8)
Now if you look at it, it looks a lot simpler, you just need to find a number having 9 letters. The catch here is
if you notice it
there are more three letter numbers like one two but ten was chosen
there are more four letter numbers four five but nine was chosen
so it is the maximum number having those many letters when it spelled out.
so now a 9 letter maximum number : I could only get 96.
But if you are being interviews at google, this is just an acceptable answer. Because if you look at why they chose google as company name and a bit of history you will read a number
"one googol" - count the letters in it including the space bar. thats the correct answer? think about can you make it "ten googol"
you may counter argument that why not use million as 7 letter word. That is because in this question if notice all these numbers are represented as cardinal number. So if you type 100 .. it becomes "one hundred"
I will try to find more puzzle in coming days to have some more food for brains :)
I try to solve few and give few answers as I found them on several places and the book itself .
All the points I make here are mine (I understand that I can be wrong and I will take any corrections)
These puzzles are from book written by Mr. William Poundstone. You can visit his website at home.williampoundstone.net . I will strongly recommend his book for anyone who likes to read about how different people view different things via puzzles
DISCLAIMER: I have not invented the puzzles nor the solutions. I am just trying to explain my understanding of the problems for in general audience like me
1) The penny size problem : This is directly from the book, No contribution from me. All contributions to William PoundStone
Here is the problem
You are shrunk to the size of a penny. Your mass is reduced but your density remains same. You are thrown in a grinder and the blades start in 60 seconds, what would you do?
As been pointed out always, a good interviewer looks at your approach and others looks at your final answer.
So normal answers would be stick to the wall, get below the blades. stick with the blades, make rope of my shoe laces and climb up etc etc
but in general we do see this problem when we see ants carrying the food. So when a small ant carry the food which ways x number of times greater than its own weight. How can it do that? We never wonder .. the problem was answered in a physics class somewhere in school when at the least I (not sure about) was busy poking friends at the back benches.
so basically if the ant can carry that higher weight than itself , if the shrunk person can jump from the jar and fall of, will he be able to survive. By adding the gravity, fall of speed, height of jar and all other variables, the question comes will you be able to first make a jump of that height and if you can when you land on other side will you be to survive?
The answer to this question is not about how can you get out of the jar but more of can you think about the scale issue. In the today's world most buzzing word around technology is scalability. This problem tells at different scales you do get different benefits with compromising few on different scale.
================================================================
Here is another puzzle
What comes next in series ? SSS --- SCC -- C -- SC ?
When I started looking at this problem, as a grown up person the first thing I started to look at can I find any relation between S and C and their occurrence. *SLAP* to me .. I couldn't. One thing we always lose being grown up is the basic thing.
Second thing lets calculate -- yeah I have studied mathematics I can solve it by maths -- *SLAP* to me
after breaking my head for more than 60 minutes I did gave up. I still claim I did not know the answer and I still dont claim I found the solution. What I got was luck some othertime
On a paper I was drawing face pictures and then I was explaining it to the friend how to make a friend
You first draw two Straight vertical lines and then draw two Curves to connect those lines. Now you draw one small size Straight line and one medium size horizontal Straight line right in the middle of the shape you just draw. Then you draw two inverted Curves one each around the vertical line in the middle. now draw a Circle below the curves and you have a face. and then the lightening struck
SSS - three straight lines
SCC- one line two curves
C - just a curve
SC- line and curve
now as an engineer first thought was trigonometry. Drew all shapes and then left the problem there.
Then you get this answer when you think when start making just the third place single C. can these be just the english alphabets ?
lets try
SSS - three lines - A
SCC - straight line and two curves or circles B
C - just a C (clue)
SC- becomes D
so next is E and it will be SSSS
================================================================
A similar puzzle to above one is like below
1111 = 0
1896 = 4
3564 = 1
8888 = 8
9999 = 4
2222 = 0
5369 = ?
If you looked at the shapes in previous problem there is another way to look at the numbers now
straight lines and circles makes the numbers.
so each line is counting the number of circles in that number and that's one way we look at the problem.
We always forget our natural instinct when someone asks us for puzzle. we get into maths rationalism etc etc. But when we see any monument most of the time we notice the shape.
So I did learn my lesson for not forgetting the shape factor in life. :)
===============================================================
There is one puzzle based on general physics
When there's wind blowing , does the round trip by plane change? Is yes then will it reduce or increase?
Answer to this is Yes the time will increase.
you ask Why?
first of lets forget plane and put a cycle on the road and the wind behind you. It ofcourse increases your speed. Wow now you must be thinking that this idiot just says it takes longer time. Now when you are coming back and the fighting against the wind it will take you forever to reach back.
To simplify more lets look at the boats travelling in sea. When they are going with the tide they are fast but when the tides are against them it just keeps on adding time. Now you may say that plane engines powers etc etc. You can try it mathematically with putting few numbers around the equation and you will find a suitable answer yourself as well :)
================================================================
One puzzle which I loved the most from William's book "Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?"
The below puzzle basically tells how an innovative mind should think and how a hardworking mind can think
Find the next number in the series
10, 9 , 60, 90, 70, 66 , ?
As dumb as I am, this time I was determined to solve this problem without reading the solution in the book.
So routine try to fit the series in some maths equation - fail
try to find relation between numbers - fail
try to some numbers logic around it - fail
After 4 hours i kept the list vertically and I could reach only that far and slept off. Next day while on subway metro I had the paper in hand I was looking at the numbers and was getting bored so I just started writing the numbers again and it did not strike me.
It was more of an itchy feeling that I wanted to get the solution and find the solution. Why not try internet? Yeah when you are not giving interview you can do that but that does not help me cause I will run across the solution everybody has written and i will just read it. And that's what happened after giving it a lot of try.
An INNOVATIVE mind thinks and a hard-working mind sometimes need the help of innovative mind.
10 - ten (3)
9 - nine (4)
60 - sixty (5)
90 - ninety (6)
70 - seventy (7)
66 - sixty-six (8)
Now if you look at it, it looks a lot simpler, you just need to find a number having 9 letters. The catch here is
if you notice it
there are more three letter numbers like one two but ten was chosen
there are more four letter numbers four five but nine was chosen
so it is the maximum number having those many letters when it spelled out.
so now a 9 letter maximum number : I could only get 96.
But if you are being interviews at google, this is just an acceptable answer. Because if you look at why they chose google as company name and a bit of history you will read a number
"one googol" - count the letters in it including the space bar. thats the correct answer? think about can you make it "ten googol"
you may counter argument that why not use million as 7 letter word. That is because in this question if notice all these numbers are represented as cardinal number. So if you type 100 .. it becomes "one hundred"
I will try to find more puzzle in coming days to have some more food for brains :)
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