Bloomberg LP Interview Question
Software Engineer / DevelopersTeam: Supply Chain
Country: United States
Interview Type: In-Person
59 minutes is the correct answer. When I was asked this I was told that it was a worm that replicates vs bacteria. Now, assuming that we are starting with a single bacterium that replicates in the first minute N1, and by N60, the jar is full. How many worms or bacterium are there in the jar, in the 60th minute? If you want to really impress your audience, you should also be prepared to answer this question.
Hint: It's a very simple exponent
what if the question is modified this way?
I have an empty water bottle. I drop one worm inside the water bottle and it divides in half, and the following worms divide in half, and the bottle fills up in 30 seconds. How many seconds would it take the bottle to fill up if I originally dropped in two worms?
We know that the bacteria doubles its volume in one minute. So, if it took the jar 1 hour to be full, we know that it it will take (1 hour - 1 min) i.e 59 mins for the jar to be half.
- bosscoder December 06, 2014