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From: krs@amdahl.UUCP (Kris Stephens)
Newsgroups: net.puzzle
Subject: YAIQ
Message-ID: <1347@amdahl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 29-Mar-85 14:13:15 EST
Article-I.D.: amdahl.1347
Posted: Fri Mar 29 14:13:15 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 1-Apr-85 03:18:39 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 25

A friend of mine has used the following as an Interview Question:

    A farmer has a fenced  10-meter by 20-meter field the occupant
    of which is a  "point cow" {see footnote}.  When tethering the
    cow to a corner-post of the field, how long does the rope need
    to be so that the cow can eat half of the grass in the field?
                            - - - - - -
    Note: A "point cow" is a relative  of the famous "frictionless
          puck", whose [USDA :-)] prime attribute is that its head
          occupies the point at the end of its tether  (a cow with
          a null-size head and neck).

   This is a  deceptive  problem.  The only  answers  I've seen  were from
Engineers,  who offered to tell me the answer  "to as many  decimal places
as I want" by successive approximation,  which,  as we all know,  is _not_
the answer.

   My friend's reasoning in posing the question is to watch how the person
being interviewed approaches problem-solving, rather than actually looking
for the answer.

-- 
Kris Stephens     (408-746-6047)                 {whatever}!amdahl!krs
     [The opinions expressed above are mine, solely, and do not    ]
     [necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Amdahl Corp. ]