brainteaser!

[jimmiebarton]

another mind twister, solve at the peril of your ego

A shelf contains hardcover and paperback books, of either fiction or nonfiction. How many books are on the shelf?

(1) 2/3 of the books are fiction and 1/4 of the books are hardcover.

(2) Fewer than 30 books are paperback and more than 10 are nonfiction.

A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.

B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.

C. Both statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question asked; but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.

D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question asked.

E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data specific to the problem are needed.

 

[nursebee]

Hey Jimmiebarton, open your PMs so that I dont have to spoil ur fun
36C
I googled the others, how shortsighted of me. My science and math olympiad days are long gone.

 

[jimmiebarton]

Hey Jimmiebarton, open your PMs so that I dont have to spoil ur fun
36C
I googled the others, how shortsighted of me. My science and math olympiad days are long gone.

pick one alphabet answer just don't post your proof, yet.

 

[nursebee]

I did already

 

[jimmiebarton]

pick one alphabet answer just don't post your proof, yet.

correct,sir

 

[andread]

Martin Gardner had possibly the best I have ever seen:

Five men and a monkey were shipwrecked on a desert island, and they spent the first day gathering coconuts for food. Piled them all up together and then went to sleep for the night.

But when they were all asleep one man woke up, and he thought there might be a row about dividing the coconuts in the morning, so he decided to take his share. So he divided the coconuts into five piles. He had one coconut left over, and gave it to the monkey, and he hid his pile and put the rest back together.

By and by, the next man woke up and did the same thing. And he had one left over and he gave it to the monkey. And all five of the men did the same thing, one after the other; each one taking the fifth of the coconuts in the pile when he woke up, and each one having one left over for the monkey. And in the morning they divided what coconuts were left, and they came out in five equal shares. Of course each one must have known that there were coconuts missing; but each one was guilty as the others, so they didn’t say anything. How many coconuts were there in the beginning?​

Do yourself a favor and google the solution

 

[fan27]

A software engineer I work with is super into these sorts of problems. He is a member of a web site that specializes in these sort of brainteasers, with some of the problems requiring very complex algorithmic solutions. Apparently Google was stalking some of the "high ranking" members on the site and my co-worker was invited to be flown out to interview with them solely based on his participation on the site. He declined. WTF!

fan27

 

[andread]

A software engineer I work with is super into these sorts of problems. He is a member of a web site that specializes in these sort of brainteasers, with some of the problems requiring very complex algorithmic solutions. Apparently Google was stalking some of the "high ranking" members on the site and my co-worker was invited to be flown out to interview with them solely based on his participation on the site. He declined. WTF!

fan27

I think Google is very right, and so is your co-worker.
Do you know what site it is?

 

[fan27]

I think Google is very right, and so is your co-worker.
Do you know what site it is?

Here is the site:
https://projecteuler.net/

 

[Baron]

No No No;seriously? IE., the intent is a reliable solution, one that can be counted on to give a correct result every time. You don't get that?

I don't see anything in the original question, (even as stated on the business insider site) that even remotely implies the solution must be counted on to give a correct result every time. It's asking for the "minimum", and the definition of minimum is the "least amount possible". So yet again, I stand by the answer that least number of times to find the heavier ball is one. And you would achieve that by grabbing two balls and putting them on the balance, with one being the heavier ball and the other being one of the seven lighter balls. Would there be some mild odds involved to achieve this? Yes. But is it realistically possible? Absolutely.

Ok, I'll stop beating a dead horse.

Hold on a second... somebody from Google's HR department is calling on the other line.