Amazon Interview Question for Software Engineer / Developers


Country: United States
Interview Type: Phone Interview




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3
of 5 vote

k = 1 << pos
return ((number & k) > 0)

number & k may not be 1

number = 100
pos = 3
100 & 100 = 100 (4) not 1

- Anonymous April 05, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 votes

Yes i figured this out eventually after the interview when i sat and wrote all the steps.

- An April 05, 2012 | Flag
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1
of 1 vote

I think it should be

k = 1 << (pos-1)

1 << 3 // will be 1000 i.e. fourth bit

- vipul4group October 07, 2012 | Flag
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1
of 1 vote

You want to check that "number AND k" preserves k

boolean isSet1(int number, int pos) {
        int k = 1;
        for(int i = 1; i <= pos; i++) {
            k = k << 1;
        }
        return (number & k) == k;
    }

- bitstuff April 05, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 votes

That would require number to be a power of 2. If you '&k', it will erase the other bits of number except for the one at pos.

- RD April 17, 2012 | Flag
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0
of 0 votes

Junk comment

- RD April 17, 2012 | Flag
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1
of 1 vote

FOR loop should be like:
"for(int i = 1; i < pos; i++)"

Please correct me if I am wrong.

- Anonymous August 19, 2012 | Flag
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1
of 1 vote

One way is :

public static boolean isBitSet(int n, int pos) {
         return ((n & (1 << pos)) > 0);
    }

another way is

public static boolean isBitSet(int n, int pos) {
        return (((n >> pos) & 1) == 1);        
    }

bit position start at 0.

- Anonymous April 05, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 votes

Great....

- Kiran April 06, 2012 | Flag
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0
of 0 votes

Shall i see how the first method works... ?? i can't understand ..

- Kiran April 06, 2012 | Flag
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1
of 1 vote

One example is the number 15 and we want to know if the bit in the position 3 is on, so the binary number for 15 is 00001111, so what the method does is turn the bit in the given position creating this number 00001000 then it does an AND of 00001111 & 00001000 which should give us the same number 00001000 as a result. If the bit asked were 0 and let's say the given number was 7 instead, which is 00000111, then when doing 00000111 & 00001000 the result would be 0, makes sense?

- Anonymous April 12, 2012 | Flag
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0
of 0 votes

Both your answers are correct

- An March 12, 2013 | Flag
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0
of 0 vote

Another way could be:
bool is_set(int number, int pos){
return ((bool)(number>>pos)&0x1);
}

- sunny April 05, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

(number & k) > 0 should read as (number & k) != 0 [or simple (number & k) if in C] in all the codes above.

If the shifting puts the bit to the topmost bit in k than the result will be negative, but still non-zero.

- Selmeczy, Péter April 05, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

static boolean findbit(int no,int pos)
	{
		int k=1<<pos;
		System.out.println(k);
		if((k&no)==k)
			return true;
		else
			return false;
		
	}

- vishal April 05, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

boolean bitset(int no,int pos)
{
return (no & (1 << bit)) != 0;
}

- Vladimir Dubovoy April 05, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

You need to consider whether the bits are counted from 0 or 1.
The above approaches wroks if the bits are counted from 0, but if counted from 1, below is the solution.
bool bitset(int number, int pos)
{
return (number & pow(2,(pos-1)) ;
}

- Vijay Rajanna April 06, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

what will happen when pos<0?

- anonymous April 08, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 votes

I dont know...did not ask him that, what should happen, throw an error? In that case its just an if check....

- An April 08, 2012 | Flag
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0
of 0 vote

probably you can just divide num by 2 for position number of times and then take num % 2.
if the result is 1 then return true else return false.

- Siddharth April 09, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 votes

It was the first time i attempted solving a bit manipulation question. Honestly it does not matter whether you loop or not, and I don't think that is what the interviewer judged me on.

- An March 12, 2013 | Flag
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0
of 0 vote

y u use the loop u jst shift the number by (pos -1) unit to right and and with 1.u get the result.

- jai April 11, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

return (n>>p & 1) ? true : false;

- Anonymous May 02, 2012 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

return ((1<<pos) & num )>>pos;

- asbelsare March 11, 2013 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

return ( num & pow( 2 , pos ) ) ? true : false

- get2jawa July 22, 2013 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

another method...

return ( num & (1 << pos) ) ? true : false;

- get2jawa July 22, 2013 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

Using XOR:

if(number ^ (1 << (pos - 1))){
		return true;
	}
	else{
		return false;
	}

- Anonymous May 01, 2015 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

1 #include<stdio.h>
  2 
  3 int bitSet(int num,int pos)
  4 
  5 {
  6 
  7     if((num &(1<<(pos-1))))
  8 
  9         return 1;
 10 
 11     else
 12         return 0;
 13 
 14 }
 15 
 16 
 17 int main()
 18 
 19 
 20 {
 21 
 22     int num,pos;
 23 
 24     printf("Enter the Number ");
 25 
 26     scanf("%d",&num);
 27 
 28     printf("Enter the position :");
 29 
 30     scanf("%d",&pos);
 31 
 32     if(bitSet(num,pos))
 33 
 34         printf("True");
 35 
 36     else
 37         printf("False");
 38 
 39 
 40 
 41 }

- sandeepkumar211221 August 17, 2017 | Flag Reply


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