@malvoliosf
I would never want to work at a company that uses this as an interview question.
@jarlsparkley
When you said three, I thought you were just going to say the other two rows have two threes.
@SulkendorIsAwesome
"Explain your reasoning"
@charlesajones77
This is like a programming job where you have to figure out how the hell your predecessor’s code worked.
@baconlettucepotato69
i wouldnt want to be employed by this company anyway if their interview questions are all this kind of hogwash
@Caeck
1 makes sense also because row 3 adds up to 11, row 2 to 13 and currently row 1 is 14, so plus 1 is 15
@nimbleline
the problem is there's always gonna be some pattern to justify any number for the answer, so you have to look for the "simplest" one (as if that's even a meaningful concept -- simplest within whose framework?) or metagame to think of which one they'll be looking for
@GameJam230
I feel like as a requirement for companies to be allowed to make tests like this for hiring, they should be forced to solve several intentionally stupid puzzles made by another organization and see why it’s so stupid.
@jgp6711
The test may be not "what is the answer", but how can the interviewee work out possible solutions.
@pras12100
I arrived at an answer of 7 by a different route. If you label each column from left to right a, b, c, d and e. I ignored column e as all the elements are three. I noticed that in each row d = c - a + b That is a = c + b - d when rearranged. For row 3 it is a = 5 + 4 - 2 which is 7
@nicholasscott3287
Honestly my first thought when I saw the thumbnail was matrix multiplication
@GameJam230
My first thought actually WAS to add up the 2x2 squares around the dots. If I had to guess, the thicker line is probably mean to be a “guide” line to show you that the pattern moves up the right side and then returns, but it really doesn’t do a great job at “guiding”.
@oreocookiedough
Is this that Terrence Howard new math system?
@scarletmanuka6170
I mean, adding up the 3x3 squares or the 2x3 rectangles is not different from adding up the column totals.
@lucianoangelini8457
I thought of 4 as the solution. If you can fill the grid with numbers from 1 to 5, but these numbers should also represent the number of occurences other numbers. Then There are 4 of 2 There are 2 of 1 There is 1 of 5 There are 5 of 3 Therefore to continue the sequence and be consistent should be 3 of 4. Since there are 2 of them, the ? Is a 4
@jensfriedrichacker2373
You can create an interpolating polynomial with rational coefficients in 2 variables, which can be any whole number in the top left corner. Thus, you can create a rule for any value, and the value is not strictly defined in this class of problems See interpolating polynomials in 2D in the field of numerical mathematics.
@05degrees
I learned to hate such problems with passion.
@mmoreno7137
The funny part is it is just a red herring. Somebody claimed that giving these types of un-anticipatable questions will yield better smarter hires so lots of people adopted this. If what I read is true there was a study that showed using these has no effect at all. Companies that don't do this have people of the same intelligence, same attendance and same retention. They still use them though. It reminded me of a programming class I took once where the teacher said all tests were closed book. Because I am that type of person and I knew a few programmers I asked if the teacher knew any programmers that did have and reference books while they wrote programs. He didn't like the question or me much.
@nathanisbored
I immediately thought of a die (maybe because of the dots?) and the black line made me think of those die folding diagrams and was meant to represent some sort of cut or crease. Obviously this doesn’t fold into a cube, but once you start thinking in 3D with folding, a lot of new possible patterns open up, so it seemed like a promising lead. Couldn’t be bothered trying to go any further than my minds eye though, and it was too much to picture in my head so I just gave up.
@American_Language