Hmm my first thought was ... well ... WTF
Then I thought - man I'd like to work for this corp. but alas I think I'm to stupid for that.
Some moments of reflection later I'm now convinced that I don't want to work there at all.
The question is somewhat similiar to
"give me the fastest sorting algorithm and prove that it is"
Everyone with a CS-degree or something similar will know this prove and Qsort from his very first years and I claim almost everyone will have forgotten the prove.
(I can remember that you can prove this by looking at the "descision" tree passed on the 1on1 comparision which will have depth of about the needet size ;) - but this is it)
I think most people will get the prove (even without google or wiki) in a resonable time (some hours?) but within interview-time and in this situation? In my case no way.
The question is somewhat similiar to "give me the fastest sorting algorithm and prove that it is" Everyone with a CS-degree or something similar will know this prove and Qsort from his very first years and I claim almost everyone will have forgotten the prove. (I can remember that you can prove this by looking at the "descision" tree passed on the 1on1 comparision which will have depth of about the needet size ;) - but this is it) I think most people will get the prove (even without google or wiki) in a resonable time (some hours?) but within interview-time and in this situation? In my case no way.