News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Do You Know How Much Your Computer Can Do in a Second?. Parent comment

Re:Do You Know How Much Your Computer Can Do in a Second? by aardvark179 on Thursday June 22, 2023 @06:14PM (#36439877)
What units do you think you know the scale of the solar system in? The speed of light is approximately 300 million meters per second, so call it 300 thousand kilometres per second, or very roughly 200 thousand miles.

Also, if I were asking that sort of question in an interview I would fine with a candidate getting a conversion wrong as long as they explain their thought process, and I’d help them correct the error early. I’m this sort of question is t meant to be a trick, it’s about whether you can connect different variables which may not appear connected at first glance.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Do You Know How Much Your Computer Can Do in a Second? by bedobi on Thursday June 22, 2023 @07:45PM (#36440810)
> it's about

It's about absolutely nothing at all. You can project whatever you want on pointless questions like that. Whatever you think you're measuring in a candidate by asking them, well, you're not, lol.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Do You Know How Much Your Computer Can Do in a Second? by weebull on Friday June 23, 2023 @07:30AM (#36445410)
> What units do you think you know the scale of the solar system in?

AU

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Do You Know How Much Your Computer Can Do in a Second? by arp242 on Friday June 23, 2023 @08:26AM (#36445898)
> if I were asking that sort of question in an interview

The impression I had was that the question was asked in a social context: over coffee, beers, or something like that.

> What units do you think you know the scale of the solar system in?

AU, as I mentioned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit

[ Parent | on HN ]