Coding interview: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:37, 17 December 2020

Revision as of 04:33, 11 February 2021

Line 24:

====Manhole cover question====

[[File:Open Manhole and Cover Mid-City New Orleans.jpg|thumb|A round manhole and its cover]]

The question of why [[manhole covers]] are typically round (in some countries) was made famous by [[Microsoft]] when they began asking it as a job-interview question.<ref name="Microsoft Puzzle Book">{{cite book| last = Poundstone| first = William| title = How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle – How the World's Smartest Company Selects the Most Creative Thinkers| publisher = Little, Brown| year = 2003| isbn = 0-316-91916-0| url = https://archive.org/details/howwouldyoumovem00poun}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Davis |first=Jim |url=http://www.joblossguide.com/2009/02/why-are-manhole-covers-round_10.html |title=Why Are Manhole Covers Round? |publisher=Joblossguide.com |date=2009-02-10 |accessdateaccess-date=2011-04-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612064454/http://www.joblossguide.com/2009/02/why-are-manhole-covers-round_10.html |archivedatearchive-date=June 12, 2011 |df=mdy }}</ref> Originally meant as a psychological assessment of how one approaches a question with more than one correct answer, the problem has produced a number of alternative explanations, from the [[tautology (rhetoric)|tautological]] ("Manhole covers are round because manholes are round.")<ref name="Microsoft Puzzle Book" /> to the philosophical.

Reasons for the shape include: