7998 Romans
September 18, 2007Daniel and I were discussing how to test candidates before hiring them. You can push the requirements further when the candidates get a “take-home” test. So, what would such a test look like?
It must be easy enough so that the candidates don’t discourage. However, it must be challenging enough to test their problem solving skills and be able to produce some code we can discuss. Ideally, I’d like to see a code portfolio: a set of interesting problems and accompanying solutions. My take is that the following problem will be able showcase the attributes I’m looking for:
- ability to research
- flexible solution
- good coding style
…
Given a file with roman numbers and their integer values in the following format:
487 -> CDLXXXVII 1442 -> MCDXLII MCCXCVII -> 1297 211 -> CCXI MCLXIV -> 1164
Find the lines where the roman and integer values don’t match. How many lines are there? Which ones?
[...] too if I could come up with something particularly demented. Jonathan suggested an intriguing roman numeral puzzle. Sadly, we both realize that many people can’t even write a simple [...]