What is the purpose of this NPR feature?

[MathematicalPhysicist]

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3916173

i wish i knew how to even start answering google's question.

 

[cronxeh]

solution:
http://www.mkaz.com/math/google

 

[matt grime]

That seems most bizarre (it's not april 1st is it) since knowing the answer to that is not a sign of mathematical skill in the slightest.

 

[BobG]

It may not be a sign of mathematical skill, but it is a sign of the subjects a person has been exposed to. Understanding what the sign is asking for weeds out an awful lot of people. It also measures a few other non-mathematical traits - the few that will successfully log on to the site not only know what a prime number is and what 'e' is, they are problem solvers because they enjoy it, not because they have to be.

I've seen a few other odd 'math' equations for job interviews - "How high can you count on your fingers?" probably being the oddest. 99 would be a very good answer (Chisenbop method), 1023 even better (binary) - 1,048,755 would probably guarantee a person of beating out all the competition on at least this question (a hexadecimal modification of an ancient Chinese finger counting method).

The odd questions are usually not too technical, but require an interest that goes beyond just meeting the normal minimum requirements to complete a course. Microsoft used to be notorious for the 'odd' questions and many of their old job interview questions now circulate around as popular brain teasers.

The reason is because quite a few can 'survive' tough math courses hoping for a good paying job in which maybe they escape having to actually do anything with the math or science they 'survived'. In fact, a few engineers find a job that a data entry technician could do and hang onto that job as long as possible, never even dreaming of advancing to a responsible job. Of course, eventually, management realizes they could find someone much cheaper than an engineer to do the job and transfers the person to more appropriate tasks for an engineer. The person almost always becomes depressed in his new job, starts sending out resumes, and quickly moves on in search of a less technical engineering job.

 

[matt grime]

But the bill-board gives no indication of what one might find if one were to "solve" this puzzle (the article actually states this to be a problem to 'solve'). Given the bloody annoying advertising campaigns of, say, More Than (no idea if that company exists outside the Uk/EU, dobut it), whereby the marketing is done without reference to the product in an attempt to build up curiosity, I'm more than likely to think that the people who dreamt up that campaign are annoying morons.

If there were a heading such as 'looking for a more exciting challenge?' then I could understand it. Note this is a comment about the PR people. The armed forces have such campaigns on UK tv.

More Than, for those who haven't seen the damn thing, used to post fake flyers and adverts about a lost dog, called Lucky. They did lots of variations in an attempt to get their name known before they'd even launched any products. I'm with Bill Hicks on this one: if you're in advertising, kill yourself.