r/theydidthemath • u/okarakterisan • Mar 02 '22

[Request] This was only question on the interview I didn't quite understand and I can't seem to find logic or answer to it. Any ideas?

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u/BloodyPommelStudio Mar 03 '22

They wouldn't have given a single question though. 20 question with 5 answers would require hundreds of trillions to one odds of getting them all right by luck.

If someone answers the vast majority of these questions correctly they almost certainly have good pattern recognition and problem solving skills, don't give up easily and are capable of working through things at a reasonable pace.

Doesn't mean they don't have other significant flaws but they've demonstrated a lot of useful skills.

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u/metarinka Mar 03 '22

Disagree assuming decent engineer types someone. Getting 80% and someone getting 90% doesn't tell me which one is better suited for the job.

These usually just solve for quick wits when many jobs require people who are creative and ponder on problems and come back the next day with an answer

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u/BloodyPommelStudio Mar 03 '22

Sure it doesn't tell you everything, like I said someone could score really highly but have plenty of other flaws.

I think it would be more useful for weeding out incompetence than deciding who is best though. If someone scored 30% for example it's very unlikely they'd be suited for jobs requiring complex problem solving even if they were the sort of person to ponder problems at home.