Tim Challies posted a link this morning to “15 Google Interview Questions That Will Make You Feel Stupid.” It turns out that Google is hiring again, and they like to ask hard questions in their interviews. In fact, you might say that their interview questions are like taking the GRE. Here’s one of the brain-teasers they use when interviewing product managers. See if you can figure it out before looking at my answer in the comment section. Let me know if you got it right.
You have eight balls all of the same size. Seven of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?
1st Weighing
Take 6 of the balls and weigh them 3 on one side and 3 on the other.
2nd Weighing
If both sides of three are equal, then weigh the remaining two balls to see which one is heavier.
If one set of three is heavier than the other set of three, then select two balls from the heavier set to weigh.
If one of the two is heavier than the other, then you’ve found your ball.
If the two balls are equal, then you know that the third unweighed ball is the heaviest.
This is a classic Computer Science question. I came across it three times at my last job (Meditech, not Google). So, yes, now I finally get this question right
Very good grasshopper. My brain got tired trying to figure it out.
Yeah. My mind isn’t supposed to work with these types of questions.
My brother-in-law works for Google. He can attest to the challenge of their interviews!
I got it. Stone is my witness
You can even do it with 9 balls.
“their interview questions are like taking the GRE.” ha ha ha ha ha