Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers

Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 1 : Winning Strategy Logic Puzzle
Difficulty ★★★★☆        Popularity ★★☆☆☆

Alpha and Beta are playing bets. Alpha gives $10 to Beta and Beta deals four card out of a normal 52 card deck which are chose by him completely randomly. Beta keeps them facing down and take the first card and show it to Alpha. Alpha have a choice of either keeping it or to look at the second card. When the second card is shown to him, he again has the choice of keeping or looking at the third which is followed by the third card as well; only if he does not want the third card, he will have to keep the fourth card.

If the card that is being chosen by Alpha is n, Beta will give him . Then the cards will be shuffled and the game will be played again and again. Now you might think that it all depends on chance, but Alpha has come up with a strategy that will help him turn the favor in his odds.

Can you deduce the strategy of Alpha ?

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:
To keep odds in his favor, Alpha must choose a card from the first three whenever he sees a 9 or higher card.

This is because the probability that all cards that are selected randomly by beta are below 9 is 32*231*30*29 / 52*51*50*49 = 0.133.
In such a case, you lose from $2 to $9 with equal probability = 0.133/8 = 0.0166

Let us now calculate the probability of the four cards being of value 9 or higher which will be equal to 1 – 0.133 = 0.867.

As Alpha stops at the first sight of 9 or a higher card, he can possibly win -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 with an equal probability of 0.867/5 = 0.173

This will give him an overall expected winning amount of 0.14 per game he plays.

Also note that if Alpha decides to stop at a card 10 or higher, the expected winning amount will be 0.09 per game. It can be a strategy to win more but will not stand quite effective.

With any other choice of stopping, Alpha will be having negative chances of winning.

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Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 2 : 2 Eggs 100 Floors Puzzle
Difficulty ★★★★★        Popularity ★★★★★

-> You are given 2 eggs.
-> You have access to a 100-storey building.
-> Eggs can be very hard or very fragile means it may break if dropped from the first floor or may not even break if dropped from 100 th floor.Both eggs are identical.
-> You need to figure out the highest floor of a 100-storey building an egg can be dropped without breaking.
-> Now the question is how many drops you need to make. You are allowed to break 2 eggs in the process

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:
answer is: 14

Let x be the answer we want, the number of drops required.

So if the first egg breaks maximum we can have x-1 drops and so we must always put the first egg from height x. So we have determined that for a given x we must drop the first ball from x height. And now if the first drop of the first egg doesn’t breaks we can have x-2 drops for the second egg if the first egg breaks in the second drop.

Taking an example, lets say 16 is my answer. That I need 16 drops to find out the answer. Lets see whether we can find out the height in 16 drops. First we drop from height 16,and if it breaks we try all floors from 1 to 15.If the egg don’t break then we have left 15 drops, so we will drop it from 16+15+1 =32nd floor. The reason being if it breaks at 32nd floor we can try all the floors from 17 to 31 in 14 drops (total of 16 drops). Now if it did not break then we have left 13 drops. and we can figure out whether we can find out whether we can figure out the floor in 16 drops.

Lets take the case with 16 as the answer

1 + 15 16 if breaks at 16 checks from 1 to 15 in 15 drops
1 + 14 31 if breaks at 31 checks from 17 to 30 in 14 drops
1 + 13 45 .....
1 + 12 58
1 + 11 70
1 + 10 81
1 + 9 91
1 + 8 100 We can easily do in the end as we have enough drops to accomplish the task


Now finding out the optimal one we can see that we could have done it in either 15 or 14 drops only but how can we find the optimal one. From the above table we can see that the optimal one will be needing 0 linear trials in the last step.

So we could write it as

(1+p) + (1+(p-1))+ (1+(p-2)) + .........+ (1+0) >= 100.

Let 1+p=q which is the answer we are looking for

q (q+1)/2 >=100

Solving for 100 you get q=14.
So the answer is: 14
Drop first orb from floors 14, 27, 39, 50, 60, 69, 77, 84, 90, 95, 99, 100... (i.e. move up 14 then 13, then 12 floors, etc) until it breaks (or doesn't at 100)

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Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 3 : River Riddle
Difficulty ★★★★☆        Popularity ★★★★★

Four people need to cross a dark river at night.They have only one torch and the river is too risky to cross without the tourch. if all people cross simultanoesly then torch light wont be sufficient.Speed of each person of crossing the river is different.cross time for each person is 1 min, 2 mins, 7 mins and 10 mins. What is the shortest time needed for all four of them to cross the river ?

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:
The initial solution most people will think of is to use the fastest person as an usher to guide everyone across. How long would that take? 10 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 2 = 21 mins. Is that it? No. That would make this question too simple even as a warm up question.

Let's brainstorm a little further. To reduce the amount of time, we should find a way for 10 and 7 to go together. If they cross together, then we need one of them to come back to get the others. That would not be ideal. How do we get around that? Maybe we can have 1 waiting on the other side to bring the torch back. Ahaa, we are getting closer. The fastest way to get 1 across and be back is to use 2 to usher 1 across. So let's put all this together.

1 and 2 go cross
2 comes back
7 and 10 go across
1 comes back
1 and 2 go across (done)

Total time = 2 + 2 + 10 + 1 + 2 = 17 mins

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Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 4 : Oracle Probability Interview Question
Difficulty ★★★★☆        Popularity ★★★★★

What is the probability of choosing the correct answer at random from the options below.

a) 1/4
b) 1/2
c) 1
d) 1/4

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:
If the answer is 1/4, then because 2 out of 4 answer choices are '1/4', the answer must actually be 1/2. This is a contradiction. So the answer cannot be 1/4.
If the answer is 1/2 (or 1), then because 1/2 (or 1) is 1 out of 4 answer choices, the answer must be 1/4. This is again a contradiction. So the answer cannot be 1/2 (nor 1).

So none of the provided answer choices are correct. Therefore the probability of choosing the correct answer is 0%

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Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 5 : Challenging Puzzle
Difficulty ★★★★☆        Popularity ★★★★★

Outside a room there are three light switches. One of switch is connected to a light bulb inside the room.
Each of the three switches can be either 'ON' or 'OFF'.

You are allowed to set each switch the way you want it and then enter the room(note: you can enter the room only once)

Your task is to then determine which switch controls the bulb ??

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:
Set the first switches on for abt 10min, and then switch on the second switch and then enter the room.
Three cases are possible
1.Bulb is on => second switch is the ans
2.Bulb is off and on touching bulb , you will find bulb to be warm
=>1st switch is the ans.
3.Bulb is off and on touching second bulb , you will find bulb to be normal(not warm)
=>3rd bulb is the ans.

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Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 6 : Popular Age Problem
Difficulty ★★★★☆        Popularity ★★★★★

Two old friends, Jack and Bill, meet after a long time.

Three kids
Jack: Hey, how are you man?
Bill: Not bad, got married and I have three kids now.
Jack: That"s awesome. How old are they?
Bill: The product of their ages is 72 and the sum of their ages is the same as your birth date.
Jack: Cool..But I still don"t know.
Bill: My eldest kid just started taking piano lessons.
Jack: Oh now I get it.

How old are Bill"s kids?

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:
3,3,8

Lets break it down. The product of their ages is 72. So what are the possible choices?

2, 2, 18 sum(2, 2, 18) = 22
2, 4, 9 sum(2, 4, 9) = 15
2, 6, 6 sum(2, 6, 6) = 14
2, 3, 12 sum(2, 3, 12) = 17
3, 4, 6 sum(3, 4, 6) = 13
3, 3, 8 sum(3, 3, 8 ) = 14
1, 8, 9 sum(1,8,9) = 18
1, 3, 24 sum(1, 3, 24) = 28
1, 4, 18 sum(1, 4, 18) = 23
1, 2, 36 sum(1, 2, 36) = 39
1, 6, 12 sum(1, 6, 12) = 19

The sum of their ages is the same as your birth date. That could be anything from 1 to 31 but the fact that Jack was unable to find out the ages, it means there are two or more combinations with the same sum. From the choices above, only two of them are possible now.

2, 6, 6 sum(2, 6, 6) = 14
3, 3, 8 sum(3, 3, 8 ) = 14

Since the eldest kid is taking piano lessons, we can eliminate combination 1 since there are two eldest ones. The answer is 3, 3 and 8.

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Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 7 : Sherlock Holmes Murder Mystery Riddle
Difficulty ★★★★☆        Popularity ★★★★★

Sherlock breaks into a crime scene. The victim is the owner who is slumped dead on a chair and have a bullet hole in his head. A gun lies on the floor and a cassette recorder is found on the table. On pressing the play button, Sherlock hears the message 'I have committed sins in my life and now I offer my soul to the great lord....following a gunshot.

Sherlock smiles Of-course its a murder.

Why did he think so?

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:
How can a dead person rewind back the tape himself ?

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Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 8 : Hard Measuring Water Riddle
Difficulty ★★★★★        Popularity ★★★★★

You have two buckets of 11liter and 6liter.
How can you measure exactly 8liter ?

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:


Steps 11-Liter 6Liter
1. 11 -
2. 5 6
3. 5 0
4. 0 5
5. 11 5
6. 10 6
7. 10 0
8. 4 6
9. 4 0
10. 0 4
11. 11 4
12. 9 6
13. 9 0
14. 3 6
15. 3 0
16. 0 3
17. 11 3
18. 8 6 ==> got it

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Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 9 : Alexander Puzzle
Difficulty ★★★★☆        Popularity ★★★★★

Alexander is stranded on an island covered in forest.

One day, when the wind is blowing from the west, lightning strikes the west end of the island and sets fire to the forest. The fire is very violent, burning everything in its path, and without intervention the fire will burn the whole island, killing the man in the process.

There are cliffs around the island, so he cannot jump off.

How can the Alexander survive the fire? (There are no buckets or any other means to put out the fire)

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:
Alexander picks up a piece of wood and lights it from the fire on the west end of the island.

He then quickly carries it near the east end of he island and starts a new fire. The wind will cause that fire to burn out the eastern end and he can then shelter in the burnt area.

Alexander survives the fire, but dies of starvation, with all the food in the forest burnt....lolzzz

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Critical Thinking Interview Puzzles With Answers 10 : Challenging Mind puzzles
Difficulty ★★★★★        Popularity ★★★★☆

You are the ruler of a medieval empire and you are about to have a celebration tomorrow. The celebration is the most important party you have ever hosted. You've got 1000 bottles of wine you were planning to open for the celebration, but you find out that one of them is poisoned.

The poison exhibits no symptoms until death. Death occurs within ten to twenty hours after consuming even the minutest amount of poison.

You have over a thousand slaves at your disposal and just under 24 hours to determine which single bottle is poisoned.

You have a handful of prisoners about to be executed, and it would mar your celebration to have anyone else killed.

What is the smallest number of prisoners you must have to drink from the bottles to be absolutely sure to find the poisoned bottle within 24 hours?

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     Answer & Explanation

Solution:
10 prisoners must sample the wine. Bonus points if you worked out a way to ensure than no more than 8 prisoners die. Number all bottles using binary digits. Assign each prisoner to one of the binary flags. Prisoners must take a sip from each bottle where their binary flag is set. Here is how you would find one poisoned bottle out of eight total bottles of wine. Bottle 1 Bottle 2 Bottle 3 Bottle 4 Bottle 5 Bottle 6 Bottle 7 Bottle 8 Prisoner A X X X X Prisoner B X X X X Prisoner C X X X X In the above example, if all prisoners die, bottle 8 is bad. If none die, bottle 1 is bad. If A & B dies, bottle 4 is bad. With ten people there are 1024 unique combinations so you could test up to 1024 bottles of wine. Each of the ten prisoners will take a small sip from about 500 bottles. Each sip should take no longer than 30 seconds and should be a very small amount. Small sips not only leave more wine for guests. Small sips also avoid death by alcohol poisoning. As long as each prisoner is administered about a millilitre from each bottle, they will only consume the equivalent of about one bottle of wine each. Each prisoner will have at least a fifty percent chance of living. There is only one binary combination where all prisoners must sip from the wine. If there are ten prisoners then there are ten more combinations where all but one prisoner must sip from the wine. By avoiding these two types of combinations you can ensure no more than 8 prisoners die. One viewer felt that this solution was in flagrant contempt of restaurant etiquette. The emperor paid for this wine, so there should be no need to prove to the guests that wine is the same as the label. I am not even sure if ancient wine even came with labels affixed. However, it is true that after leaving the wine open for a day, that this medieval wine will taste more like vinegar than it ever did. C'est la vie.

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