As you know many interviewers like to ask interviewee to solve tricky puzzle as QA interview question. Perhaps you heard about puzzles like: why are manholes covers round, how do they make M&Ms, how many piano tuners are there in San Francisco. Almost all puzzles used for QA interview are documented in the book
How Would You Move Mount Fuji? : Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle
. If after reading this book you fill yourself as the ace at QA puzzle questions, then I dare you to solve the hardest QA interview puzzle question ever:
A hundred prisoners are each locked in a room with three pirates, one of whom will walk the plank in the morning. Each prisoner has 10 bottles of wine, one of which has been poisoned; and each pirate has 12 coins, one of which is counterfeit and weighs either more or less than a genuine coin. In the room is a single switch, which the prisoner may either leave as it is, or flip. Before being led into the rooms, the prisoners are all made to wear either a red hat or a blue hat; they can see all the other prisoners' hats, but not their own. Meanwhile, a six-digit prime number of monkeys multiply until their digits reverse, then all have to get across a river using a canoe that can hold at most two monkeys at a time. But half the monkeys always lie and the other half always tell the truth. Given that the Nth prisoner knows that one of the monkeys doesn't know that a pirate doesn't know the product of two numbers between 1 and 100 without knowing that the N+1th prisoner has flipped the switch in his room or not after having determined which bottle of wine was poisoned and what color his hat is, what is the solution to this puzzle?
Related books
- The Google Resume: How to Prepare for a Career and Land a Job at Apple, Microsoft, Google, or any Top Tech Company
- How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers
13 comments:
That's really funny :)
kindly provide the answer
Manish
Does anyone think that questions like these would be asked for a software QA intern position.
I believe the interview puzzle is good for freshman and QA intern. The reason is that QA interns usually do not have any experience to talk about and SQA interview puzzle is good way to check the person
This puzzle just seems to be a fake puzzle aimed at making fun of puzzle questions. This problem doesn't make sense and is useless in determinig how a person solves a problem. There are way too many silly distractions that seems to be placed on purpose.
This is the best method for spending your company funds, with questions like these?
This is the one who misguides the testers who is beginning their career, so please do not post this kind of puzzles , that is not realistic and do not waste the time of others and yours by posting this funny puzzle
hahaha..awesome!! :D
no way i want to work for manager who check people with these puzzle, there are other tools to check competence.
If you were asked this, you could answer that the puzzle never poses a question. It simply states a bunch of facts and asks for a "solution". It's like saying "There are three bikes. What is the solution?"
You're right, there is no real question here. If I am called for an interview tomorrow and they asked me this, I would at least make them repeat this 5 times, if not 10. And if after that they can't state the question of the riddle in one simple sentence, and that sentence NOT being what is the solution, I'd say sugar pots, or mokey bums, or whatever comes to my mind. That is, if they can say it so many times without reading it. If they didn't even take the time to memorize this, they deserve to be sent to a place where the sun never shines.
the solution is when the prisioner drinks the bottle of wine which is poisened, and flips the switch after wearing a red hat, doesnt mean the monkeys in prime numbers can hold the single switch seeing the pirate with 12 coins and noone has seen him yet..does it make any meaning..so is the question
Out of all prisoners you are a smart dumb monkey who knows the answers for all stupid questions end-up into blank mind and after long tiring day all tester will go to sleep ZZZZZZ
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