Microsoft Corporation Interview Questions and Answers

1 :: How many times a day a clocks hands overlap?

I think 22 times. (times given are approx) 1:05a 2:10a 3:15a 4:20a
5:25a 6:30a 7:35a 8:40a 9:45a 10:50a 12:midnight etc. Both
of the "eleven o'clock" overlaps never occur; they turn
into the "midnight" and "noon" overlaps. The hour hand
is "running away" from the minute hand.

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2 :: How would you move Mt. Everest?

As we can see in the name itsef,Everest(which means Ever-
Rest)i.e always at rest.Therefore to make it move we can
just add the prefix N to it. Thus making it Mt.Neverest
(Never-rest).

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3 :: How many gas stations are there in US?

According to the economic census for retail trade (census.gov) in 1997 there were only 126,889 gas stations (64% of them having convienence stores).
I simply took the 1997 and 2002 census data and continued the trend based on the limited data:

1997 - 126,889 gas stations. 81,684 (64%) with convenience stores.
2002 - 121,446 gas stations. 93,691 (77%) with convenience stores.
*2007 - 116,223 gas stations. 104,600 (90%) with convenience stores.
*2008 - 115,223 gas stations. 106,696 (92.6%) with convenience stores.

* Estimated guess based on 1997-2002 trends.

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4 :: You are given a scale which you are to use to measure eight balls?

You are given a scale which you are to use to measure eight balls. Seven of these balls have the same weight: the eigth ball is heavier than the rest. The scale does not indicate the weight of a particular object; it is a scale which tells you which of the two sides being weighed is heavier (like the scale that lady of justice statue holds up). So, for example you could place one ball on each end of the scale. If ball one was heavier than ball two, it would tip in ball one's direction; if ball two were heavier, it would tip io ball three's direction; if the balls were of equal weight, the scale would not tip at all. What is the minimum number of weighs you could perform to find the heaviest of the eight balls?
Imagine, now, that you have seven balls of unknown weight, given that six are of the same weight, and the seventh is heavier than the rest. Using the same scale as described above, what is the minimum number of weights you could perform to find the heaviest of the seven balls?

Imagine that you have 26 constants, labelled A through Z. Each constant is assigned a value in the following way: A = 1; the rest of the values equal their position in the alphabet (B corresponds to the second position so it equals 2, C = 3, etc.) raised to the power of the preceeding constant value. So, B = 2 ^ (A's value), or B = 2^1 = 2. C = 3^2 = 9. D = 4^9, etc., etc. Find the exact numerical value to the following equation:

(X - A) * (X - B) * (X - C) * ... * (X - Y) * (X - Z)
Write C code to implement atoi

And fimally, the hum-dinger: There are four people who need to cross a bridge at night. The bridge is only wide enough for two people to cross at once. There is only one flashlight for the entire group. When two people cross, they must cross at the slower member's speed. All four people must cross the bridge in 17 minutes, since the bridge will collapse in exactly that amount of time. Here are the times each member takes to cross the bridge:

Person A: 1 minute
Person B: 2 minutes
Person C: 5 minutes
Person D: 10 minutes

So, if Person A and C crossed the bridge initally, 5 minutes would elapse, because Person C takes 5 minutes to cross. Then, Person A would have to come back to the other side of the bridge, taking another minue, or six minutes total. Now, if Person A and D crossed the bridge next, it would take them 10 minutes, totalling to 16 minutes. If A came back, it would take yet another minute, totally 17... the bridge would collapse with A and B on the wrong side. How can all four people get across the bridge within 17 minutes? Note: there is no trick-answer to this problem. You can't do tricky stuff like throwing the flashlight back from one end of the bridge to the other. This problem can be solved!

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5 :: Assume you have an array that contains a number of strings (perhaps char * a[100]). Each string is a word from the dictionary. Your task is as under?

Assume you have an array that contains a number of strings (perhaps char * a[100]). Each string is a word from the dictionary. Your task, described in high-level terms, is to devise a way to determine and display all of the anagrams within the array (two words are anagrams if they contain the same characters; for example, tales and slate are anagrams.)


Begin by sorting each element in the array in alphabetical order. So, if one element of your array was slate, it would be rearranged to form aelst (use some mechanism to know that the particular instance of aelst maps to slate). At this point, you slate and tales would be identical: aelst.
Next, sort the entire array of these modified dictionary words. Now, all of the anagrams are grouped together. Finally, step through the array and display duplicate terms, mapping the sorted letters (aelst) back to the word (slate or tales).

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