Interview question - logic/thought

The question asks about how many planes are in the sky at this moment?

I just want to look at how you approach to this question. It is looking at the way of thinking.

My try would be to say there is about 15 planes on average in each country and multiply it by number of countries x.

I know this is not the right way of thinking, but that was my first try.

Reply 1

username1162972

What a dumb question.
Bet oxford ask it.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2

DeuteriumPie

Yeh, I'd say ur about right. Just try looking instead at the product of several more fractions to incorporate more detail ie treat it like a fermi problem

Reply 3

typicalvirgo

Personally, I'd consider the time of year and day and weather before I come up with an answer, then I'd make some sort of guesstimate and a ratio :-)

Reply 4

mik1a

Key approach:

- identify what you know
- be very careful with units, they are crucial
- at each step, identify what you need to do next, and what type of quantity you need to estimate
- estimate using averages, or by splitting into sub-groups

Spoiler

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

DanielDaniels

Original post by mik1a

Spoiler

Thank you so much. That's so helpful and I appreciate that.

I see the idea, but will need to read it again.

Reply 6

DanielDaniels

Original post by physicsmaths

What a dumb question.
Bet oxford ask it.

Posted from TSR Mobile

agree, and yes it is.

Reply 7

DanielDaniels

Original post by DeuteriumPie

Yeh, I'd say ur about right. Just try looking instead at the product of several more fractions to incorporate more detail ie treat it like a fermi problem

Original post by typicalvirgo

Personally, I'd consider the time of year and day and weather before I come up with an answer, then I'd make some sort of guesstimate and a ratio :-)

Thank you

Reply 8

AH127

I'd just tell them to sod off.

Reply 9

PTMalewski

Original post by mik1a

Spoiler

Good try, but this model allows only to estimate a VERY inacurrate number of cruise aircrafts, and moreover it ignores small aircrafts and military aircrafts, however as you say, it would still work with proper inputs, taking all aircrafts into account.
Anyway an estimation without any factual data input is next to worthless.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 10

mik1a

Original post by PTMalewski

I think you are missing the point of the exercise.

Reply 11

PTMalewski

Original post by mik1a

I think you are missing the point of the exercise.

The point is to find out, is a candidate clever enough to figure out some method that may be useful to some extend, isn't it?
Still, the method can be improved.

I might add: I haven't seen the whole test, but the question alone is a little bit disturbing for someone who lives in a country, where a conspiracy theory about one particular aircraft, does a lot of damage to political life of the state.
Major part of misunderstandings come from a fact that some not the most clever people try to judge real events, using such rough estimations as basis for their deductions.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 12

scientific222

Even trying to come up with a half decent number for this question is almost impossible. You can try and suggest any model but in the end the answer is going to be completely bs. It is just about sounding fancy and trying to look like you actually know what you are talking about when in reality, it is all wrong

Reply 13

mik1a

Original post by scientific222

No, it is about basing your estimate on logic rather than pulling a number out of thin air. When you make a guess, your brain has some kind of process. It is better for everyone concerned when that process is transparent.

If you just said "I think 5,000", then nobody would take you seriously.