Skip to contentSkip to footer

Software Interview Questions

Salaries
Interviews

550,797 software interview questions shared by candidates

Suppose you have 11 marbles and a two-pan balance used to compare the weight of 2 things. All of the marbles weigh the same except for one, which is heavier than all of the others. How would you find the heaviest marble if you are only allowed to weigh the marbles 3 times?
avatar

Software Development Engineering Intern

Interviewed at Microsoft

4★
Nov 18, 2016

Suppose you have 11 marbles and a two-pan balance used to compare the weight of 2 things. All of the marbles weigh the same except for one, which is heavier than all of the others. How would you find the heaviest marble if you are only allowed to weigh the marbles 3 times?

Take a ladder with 5 steps, write a function that gives all the possible combinations of either 1,2, or 3 steps, in any order, to get to the 5th step, and returns the total number of combinations. So some of the possibilities would be [1,1,1,1,1], [1,1,1,2], [1,1,2,1], etc. Then he asked the same question with order not being considered, so [1,1,1,2] and [1,1,2,1] are the same solution.
avatar

Software Engineer

Interviewed at Walmart

3.4★
Jul 16, 2013

Take a ladder with 5 steps, write a function that gives all the possible combinations of either 1,2, or 3 steps, in any order, to get to the 5th step, and returns the total number of combinations. So some of the possibilities would be [1,1,1,1,1], [1,1,1,2], [1,1,2,1], etc. Then he asked the same question with order not being considered, so [1,1,1,2] and [1,1,2,1] are the same solution.

Viewing 1051 - 1060 interview questions

Glassdoor has 550,797 interview questions and reports from Software interviews. Prepare for your interview. Get hired. Love your job.