just got ask this logic question by a microsoft interviewer ...

[$pade]

The problem was to divide a 7 ounce gold bar into 7 1 ounce pieces using only two cuts. Any ideas?

 

[KaBudokan]

Maybe the cuts aren't straight?

 

[Pretender]

Give it a BSOD and tell the consumer it's now in 7, 1 ounce pieces.


No need to thank me for getting hired.

 

[fishy101]

[edit]answer deleted. ack, I am so full of myself. Thanks Pretender. [/edit]

[edit]assuming the bar is not too thick. [/edit]

 

[BiggieN]

this is microsoft. that means cut it twice now to make 4 pieces...then come out with a patch/update and do some more cuts, then do it again until you are finished.

 

[Pretender]

Important questions:

what shape is that bar in?
do you have any other tools you can use in order to bend or reshape it?

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Since it's all hypothetical, I think fishy's got it.

 

[Passions]

depends on how the bar is shaped, i figure this is an easy one to catch those who like to assume things.

 

[BiggieN]

nice going fishy...you be a smart kinda guy!

 

[Pretender]

Fishy's method doesn't work (unless I pictured it wrong)

 

[fishy101]

thanks BiggieN, now I just hope my interviewer will ask me the same question.

 

[prodigy]

I don't see how bending it and cutting it twice would make 7 pieces. Once you bend it and cut near the bottom, you now have 3, cut it near the bottom again and you have 5 (the 4 new ones & the original, now smaller, bent piece.)

 

[Pretender]

The best method:
Smelt the bar, and re-mold it into 7 equal-sized pieces.

 

[Passions]

tell us the answer spade!

 

[BiggieN]

i counted 6 if you bend it and cut...i don't see 7 now either. you bend the bar and cut it horizontally and vertically

 

[Cowboy Dan]

If it's the same question they gave me, it was that I had to give a worker 1 oz every day for seven days, no more, no less, and I could only cut the 7oz bar twice.

Assuming it's the same problem, you don't need 7 pieces: Cut it into 1oz, 2oz, and 4oz pieces. Give him 1oz the first day, then on the second day take it back and give him the 2oz. On the third day give him back the 1oz and he keeps the 2oz. Fourth day, take back 1oz and 2 oz pieces, give him the 4oz... I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

 

[BiggieN]

seeing as this is a question to get a job or something..maybe they were just checking to see if you are able to admit that you cannot do something that is impossible, as opposed to being prideful/stubborn and not ask for help at all.

 

[fishy101]

To make up for my wrong answer, here's another answer(I think it's correct this time). Assuming the gold bar is thin and long, you can bend the two ends inward toward the middle, then bend the middle. Then you cut it twice horizontally to get 7 pieces.

 

[Passions]

wow cowboy dan, that is really smart. did u get it right?

 

[Superwombat]

bend it in an "s" shape There are seven pieces if both cuts are from top to bottom.

(imagine a $ sign with both verticle lines...)

 

[Cybordolphin]

You cut an arc from one side of the bar back to that same side. Then cut an arch to the edge of the first arc splitting the two "ears" on one side of the arc in half.

I think I would have to draw it.

What do I win?

 

[Cowboy Dan]

Bobby - I had seen it before somewhere, so I told them and they gave me a different one. I heard they REALLY don't like it when you just spout out the answer, so I wasn't going to take any chances. I didn't get any of the other ones they asked right, but I got hired anyways... They just wanted to see the way I thought about solutions for problems...

 

[Tetsuo316]

cybordolphin's got it.

 

[yakko]

Assuming you can bend the bar just shape it in a spiral. Crappy example.

 

[$pade]

i didn't solve the problem and still don't know the answer. But I did ask him if the cuts needed to be straight and he said no. I thought i nailed it and suggested to make a s-type cut as my first cut and then just cut it straight trough like a dollar sign. But then he said each time u cross a cut line it is another cut.

The shape of the bar (as someone suggested) and that of the knife (if u even had to use one) obviously plays a factor. And i think microsoft just wanted you to ask those type of question to see how you solve a problem.

I believe this problem cannot be solved if the cuts have to be straight and u are using an ordinary knife to cut a rectangular gold block. If any of those restriction can be relaxed then the problem is solveable. But of course I could be wrong and thats why i asked this question here to see if it was possible to make 2 straigh cuts using an ordinary knife to divide a rectangular gold block into 7 equal pieces.