A brain teaser from a CEO, recently shared on Reddit, has got people’s heads spinning, with many voicing their frustration over the challenge.
It seems like every day, there’s a new ‘brain-teaser’ that no one really asked for, yet we still dive into it, only to end up frustrated by math rules and endless debates in the comments.
This time, the person stirring things up is Dino Dionne, the CEO and president of Genesis Capital Group, an investment management firm. While he may have irked thousands online, there’s no denying his success in the business world.
So maybe there’s some logic behind his approach, as he shared that he gives his interviewees a ‘three-second’ math test during interviews.
On LinkedIn, he posted: “I give this test to everyone I interview. If you want the #Job, you have three seconds to provide the correct answer.”
“You’d be surprised to hear all the ridiculous excuses I’ve heard from people who either gave me the wrong answer, or couldn’t provide one!”
“My six-year old solved in 30 seconds.”
Alongside his post, he included an image of an equation labeled ‘Only for Genius,’ which reads: “3×3-3÷3+3.”
As is often the case with these math puzzles, when it was shared on the Subreddit ‘LinkedInLunatics,’ users came up with various answers.
For what it’s worth, I got five when I tried to solve it straight through – but since there are no parentheses, I just worked in order. Others suggested it was 11, while my boss thought it was one.
But most people didn’t even attempt to answer. Instead, they were more focused on calling out the CEO for what seemed like a jab at their intelligence.
One user commented: “The correct answer is to end the interview and find a boss that isn’t a tool.”
Another wrote: “This moron is the exact reason why Brackets/Parentheses were introduced in Maths.”
A third expressed their frustration: “Adds the ‘my 6 year old can solve it in 30 seconds’ as a kicker… but gives said child 10-times longer to solve the equation.”
There isn’t a clear consensus on the answer, but some argue it’s probably 11, as one user shared their reasoning.
On Reddit, they explained: “He and other people keep saying the answer is 1, but I get 11 when following PEMDAS [Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, and Addition and Subtraction] (multiplication and division first as a single step, so it’s 3×3=9 and 3÷3=1, then addition and subtraction next as a single step, so it’s 9-1+3 = 11), and 5 when I go straight across (3×3=9, 9-3=6, 6÷3=2, and 2+3=5).”
So, what answer did you get?
