Analytical Interview Question...

So I recently got asked this question in an interview and am wondering what the hell the right answer is. What are your thoughts?

You and another person are sitting at a table with a full glass of water between you. The other person drinks 50% of the water and then you drink 50% of what's left. Then they drink 50% of what's left and so on until the water (hypothetically) is gone. What is the percentage of water they drank versus the percentage of water you drank?

I think you end up drinking 1/3 and they end up drinking 2/3 but really I have no damn idea.

You're right. 2/3 other person, 1/3 you. Because you're always drinking 1/2 of what they drank. 0.25 / (0.25 + .5) = 1/3

Awesome! That's what I thought.

Too bad even if they offer it to me I'm going to turn it down. Meet with four people and one of them was a real ... and him and I would be interacting a lot. I was told, "if you meet your sales targets I'll be your best f#cking friend but if you don't I'll be a complete As#hole". This was after having known him for 10 minutes. I was ready to get up and leave at that point.

That's a retarded question to ask during an interview.

Agreed

I once got asked during an interview "Would you tell me to F*** off"? I was taken aback by that question.

Don't sound like people you want to work for, sound like people who want to one up others. I work with lots of those types, no fun.

I used to freak out new guys in the steel yard when we'd have a meeting. when my boss would ask if anyone had any questions, I'd raise my hand & say, "Am I the only one with wood right now?"

dfc said:

I once got asked during an interview "Would you tell me to F*** off"? I was taken aback by that question.

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So what was your answer?
Regards, GF.

I like to mix it up on occasion with interview questions, but the most unique one ever was asked to me many years back: "Do you piss for accuracy or distance?" I think I told him I piss so my bladder doesn't explode or something like that ... I'm still scratching my head.

I have also intentionally messed with applicants just to see how they handle themselves under pressure. When you can start seeing sweat stains through a suit you know you have them on the ropes. I'm sure the people who didn't get the job think I'm quite an @sshole but ... it's not dating.

We use a lot of analytical questions where I work. It ties into the type of work we do, so it kind of applies. It's supposed to see how people think under pressure and to get a better idea of how they solve problems. Most of the questions we ask are more puzzles than anything else. We ask people to solve the problem out loud so we can undertand their thought process.

I'm not a huge fan of these questions. Some people do well, and some people completely freak out and blow the interview. I'm not convinced they lead to finding the best candidate.

Here's an example:
You have 20 marbles, 10-red and 10-blue. You have 2 buckets.

Arrange the marbles in a way that someone walking into the room, and randomly pulling 1 marble from one of the buckets would have the highest probability of selecting a red marble.

Answer:
Put 19 marbles in one bucket and 1 red marble in the other bucket. If the person selects the bucket with the red marble he has 100% chance of selecting a red marble. If he picks the other bucket he has close to a 50% chance of selecting a red marble.

gratus fermentatio said:

So what was your answer?
Regards, GF.

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After I regained composure I replied "Not in those words, but if you overstepped your bounds I'd let you know".

dfc said:

After I regained composure I replied "Not in those words, but if you overstepped your bounds I'd let you know".

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Nice save!
Regards, GF.

since it is just a question and not at all in practice.. wouldn't the "correct" answer be that it would never be totally consumed (well at least down until the molecular level) since you can never remove all of the liquid by taking 50% at a time? that would make the interviewer think even more about it

krenshaw said:

since it is just a question and not at all in practice.. wouldn't the "correct" answer be that it would never be totally consumed (well at least down until the molecular level) since you can never remove all of the liquid by taking 50% at a time? that would make the interviewer think even more about it

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That was my initial answer and he said, "ok let's assume it does actually get fully consumed".

gratus fermentatio said:

Nice save!
Regards, GF.

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Yeah, the head of the dept. (the guy interviewing me) and the asst. head of the dept. (who was present) looked at each other and said "good answer".

Man, was I relieved...