Alright, here are the ‘official’ answers! (picture from Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition Dec 24-25, 2011). And how did I do? (If you are a Google recruiter, stop reading). My response to Question 1‘s answer is .. Ok, if you say so (there is an infinite number of correct answers). I didn’t get it. I tried prime factors, differences to three levels and other weird things. Which, after not working, is of course a clue that it’s something still different. Then I thought it could be years in the 20th century with significant events, but still no luck. Question 2. I thought the answer is, first – the balloon stays put for an instant, due to inertia (Newton’s First Law), and then thought it would move forward but couldn’t explain as nicely as in the newspaper answer as to why. Question 3. I got this one .. and I got Question 4. Fairly easy to solve with algebra, and making the number of pages in the book the unknown quantity x to solve for in a single equation. Question 5. Missed it! Aargh. Best I could offer was that it was a reference to Wheel of Fortune (very popular TV game show), and that the guy tried to spell ‘HOTEL’ or something of that sort, and lost the money he had.
