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Re:I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019) by mjochim on Sunday June 05, 2022 @01:59PM (#31633331)
Let's neglect the horizontal distance the chair(s) travel at the bottom and at the top of the lift. Then the answer is "all of them," which holds true in your one-chair scenario.

The question reminds me of "how many groves are there on a vinyl record?"

Re:I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019) by teddyh on Sunday June 05, 2022 @04:26PM (#31634519)
Re:I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019) by mjochim on Monday June 06, 2022 @02:38AM (#31637804)
I never knew! Thanks for sharing!
Re:I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019) by boxed on Monday June 06, 2022 @05:49AM (#31638639)
And how many is "all of them"? Btw it's not all, you're sitting on one, clearly you're not gonna meet that one.

If I ask you how many sugars you want in your coffee and you answer with an equation I will assume you're joking or an idiot :)

Re:I cheated on my Microsoft interview (2019) by mjochim on Monday June 06, 2022 @06:19AM (#31638759)
Since I don't drink coffee, you are unlikely to ask me that question. But if you did, I might assume you are either joking or an idiot ;).

Clearly, it's a trick question (with unnecessary details to distract you from a possible solution) and the one asking probably thinks they are very clever. So now, whether you accept an equation or insist that it's impossible to solve when it's not really comes down to how you want to play that game.