From The SSSBSA President

Michael Davis

Free Wall Street Journals (still)…Bloomberg Terminals (soon)…Syms Talks (More on the way)…Tough Job Market (also still)…Just a little Senioritis (yeah Broseph.)…Blah Blah Blah…All this great stuff and more, still going on, and will continue to for some time to come.  However, I feel that people really don’t much feel like hearing about all this anymore, so I won’t write it.  Also still true is this little quip that I so oft find myself repeating: The economy is, to say the absolute least, not what it was a few years ago.  We are facing an impossibly difficult job market, just ask any graduating senior.

Even though steps are being taken to aid all of you, such as the programs run by either your student council or the OPCS, there really is very little that your student council leaders can actually do to help.  Thus, as students, all of us need to become more proactive in forging our own futures.  Don’t wait around for someone to hand you a job, because this year, it is simply not going to happen.  We all need to attempt to improve our own marketability and it is to that ends I hope all of you will take advantage of all that the School and your Student Council have to offer you. 

Which bring me to the far more interesting and fun part of these columns. Those precious few of you who occasionally peruse this drivel may have noticed that I have been including brainteasers that I was asked during the interview process on my quest for gainful and meaningful employment (Which I am happy to report, I have finally obtained.)  Anyhoo, in the last issue I provided y’all with some of this here brain fodder guaranteeing the answers in the next issue.  So, as promised, here are the answers to those questions. 

Again, keep in mind that all that time that you had to figure these out, (about 3 weeks or so between issues,) was not a luxury that I had during the interviews, as one only has about a minute or so to solve them during an interview. Enjoy!

1) You have in front of you 8 oranges of equal size and appearance. However one of the oranges has a diamond hidden inside of it making heavier than the others.  You have the use of a balancing scale 2 times, and only 2 times.  How can you find out, with 100% certainty, which of the oranges contains the diamond?

Take 6 of the oranges, put three on one side of the scale and 3 on the other. If they balance, then simply replace them with the 2 remaining oranges, placing one on each side.  Obviously, the heavier side has the orange with the diamond.  If they do not balance, take the three oranges from the heavier side and place two if the on the scale, if they balance, then the third of that set of three is the orange with the diamond.  If not, it is simply the orange on heavier side.

2) If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands?

NO…the answer is not Zero!  Keep in mind that the hour hand moves as well.  Thus, at 3:15, the hour hand will have moved one quarter of the distance between the 3 and 4.  It has moved one quarter of one twelfth (1/48).  So to be precise, and you should be, the answer is exactly 7.5 degrees.

3) You have in front of you an unlimited water supply, a 3-gallon jug, a 5-gallon jug, and a scale that you can only use once.  The tare weight on the scale is equal to the weight of the 5-gallon jug when empty.  You must place exactly 4 gallons of water on the scale, how can you accomplish this?

Simple… (plus you should remember it from Die Hard).  Fill the 3-gallon jug to the top, and pour it into the 5-gallon jug.  Again, fill the three gallon jug to the top and pour all that you can, without spilling, into the 5 gallon jug, this should leave you, (for all of you math majors), with one gallon remaining in the 3-gallon jug.  Now, empty the 5-gallon jug, and pour in the remaining gallon from the 3-gallon into the 5-gallon jug.  Now once again fill the 3-gallon jug to the top and pour its entire contents into the 5-gallon jug, thus leaving you with 4 gallons in the 5-gallon jug.  (Mathematically represented, {for all you quant nerds}, as 3+3-5+3=4)

4) You are driving on a one-mile track.  You complete one lap at 30 miles per hour.  How fast to you have to go on your next lap to average 60 miles per hour?  (Think Carefully!)

Your first thought is most likely to be 90 miles an hour.  However, you need to realize that if you have already completed one lap a 30 miles an hour, it has already taken you two minutes.  Since two minutes is the total time you have to take in order to average 60 miles an hour, it is impossible to do so.  It’s basically a trick question.

5) You are faced with a pair of doors.  One door leads to your job offer, and the other to your untimely demise.  In front of each door is a guard.  One guard always tells the truth, and the other guard always lies.  You are allowed only one question before you make your choice.  What question should you ask?  Why?

There are two very simple answers.  First, you can ask a guard “If I were to ask you if this door is the correct one, what would you say?”  The truthful one would answer yes (it were the correct one) and no (if its not).  Now take the liar.  If you asked him if the correct door was the right way, he would say no.  But if you asked him; “If I were to ask you if this door is the correct one, what would you say?” He would be forced to lie about how he would answer and say yes.  Alternatively, you could ask; “If I were to ask the other guard which way is correct, what would he say?”  Here the truthful guard would tell you the wrong way (because he is truthfully reporting what the liar will say), while the liar would say would also tell you the wrong way (because he is lying about what the truthful guard would say.)  Basically any variation on this theme of double negatives would work.

6) Why are manhole covers round?

Remember to think out-loud when you answer this one. Three simple reasons, no corners or jagged edges, can be moved or rolled by only one person, and the most important reason… A circle is the only shape that can’t fall back into its container.

7) How many light bulbs are there in NYC?

Think about this one till next time…I am going out now, and I do not much feel like writing up the solution for y’all right this moment.  I just don’t care you see.  It is either sit here and write this answer or go see a friend.  So the final score as I deliberate what to do is: Go out and have a nice night 1 vs. stay here and type this – 0.  A clear winner has emerged, I’m leaving…Sorry.  Also I would just like to point out that I do not much care for the photograph of me at the top of this column.  Have a lovely day.