Kohl's Interview Question for Software Engineer in Tests


Country: United States
Interview Type: In-Person




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4
of 4 vote

Turn ON 1st switch for 10 min. and turn it off, turn on 2nd switch, leave 3rd one as it is.
Now go upstairs, room with ON light is of 2nd switch, room with hot bulb is of the 1st one and another one is of 3rd.

- GAURAV October 05, 2014 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 votes

Nice try, but touche switches once condition does not hold...

- heorhi October 06, 2014 | Flag
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0
of 0 votes

we can touch each switch atmost one time...

- GAURAV October 06, 2014 | Flag
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0
of 0 vote

Turn on one switch. Leave it on for half an hour. Turn on another switch and immediately walk upstairs.

The light that's off is the one you didn't touch. Of the two that are on, the room with light bulbs that are hot links to the first switch turned on, the room with light bulbs that are on but not hot is the second switch turned on.

- Anonymous October 04, 2014 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

You can touch switches only once.

- newbee October 04, 2014 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

It is not clear if you can touch each switch only once, or you can do manipulations with switches only one time (and it should be instant, no waits)?

- heorhi October 06, 2014 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

I didn't see anywhere mentioned that all the switches in same place. Whatever the switch in the room respect to the light in the same room.

- KL October 06, 2014 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

Turn on 1st switch, after 10 min turn on 2nd switch . immediately go to 2nd floor . 2 light will be on , one of which comparatively hot...

- rajan_parmar October 07, 2014 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

is there a trick that there is no statement about the bulbs? also didn't state if there is a connection between the second floor rooms and first floor switches... thinking foolishly ;-)

- srammer October 07, 2014 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

turn on the swithch. go upstairs. remove one of the bulb which is not on. come down and turn on the next switch if it lights up thats the next one or else its the removed bulb

- Anonymous October 11, 2014 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 votes

so maybe dont remove the bulb and just turn on and see if it works ? lol

- cr August 24, 2015 | Flag
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0
of 0 vote

1. turn on one switch for 5 minutes and turn off
2. turn on another switch
3. go upstair and the light bulb is for the turning switch, the hot bulb for first turned switch(turn on for 5 minutes) and the last one is for the third switch

- simon.zhangsm December 10, 2014 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

Suppose, [s1,s2,s3] are switches and [r1,r2,r3] are rooms.
I will switch on s1 for 30 minute, then switch on s2 and go to upstair.

=> the dark room is for s3.
=> check the temperature of bulb of the rest of the rooms.
=> Hot one is s1.
=> less hot one is s2.

- anik2137 April 08, 2015 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

switch 1 - switch on then switch off. -> corresponding bulb will be off but warm
switch 2 - switch on -> corresponding bulb will be on and warm
switch 3 - switch off -> corresponding bulb will be cool and off.

- saumya.wipro April 08, 2015 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

The rooms are on 2nd floor...so the building should be 3 storeyed not 2

- Anonymous June 09, 2015 | Flag Reply
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0
of 0 vote

i hv a 2 stored home
in round floor no space for lighting the lamp
so i lighten the lamp in up stair.
is this good for us?

- Radhika December 30, 2020 | Flag Reply
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-1
of 1 vote

Let 1 define an ON state and 0 define an OFF state.

While there are 8 (2^3) mathematical scenarios for three binary positions, there are only two "logical" scenarios. Uniform [111,000] and Single-Exception {[100,010,001],[011,101,110]}

Begin this exercise upstairs.

If the lights in the rooms are UNIFORM, then simply complete the following:

Go downstairs and toggle switches A and C. Toggle switch A first and switch C a unit of time later. By toggling two of the three switches you have forced a Single-Exception scenario.
Go upstairs(!). The un-toggled switch (B) is your CONTROL switch and is assigned to the only bulb that did not change its state. A temperature comparison will reveal the final switch-bulb assignments. If the initial condition was 111, switch A is the cooler of the two (now 0) bulbs. If the initial condition was 000, then switch A controls the warmer of the two (now 1) bulbs.

If the lights in the rooms are SINGLE-EXCEPTION, do the following:

Remove the exception (the single 1 or 0 bulb) and note your remaining Uniform state [11 or 00].

Go downstairs and toggle switches A and C a unit of time apart.
Go upstairs(!)

You will observe one of two "logical" conditions Uniform [11,00] or Single-Exception [01,10].
If the condition is Uniform (and therefore inverse) both switches has toggled bulbs. The CONTROL switch (B) is assigned to the REMOVED bulb and the same temperature logic applies - switch A is the cooler bulb (if 11) and C is the warmer, or switch A is the warmer bulb (if 00) and C is the cooler.

If the condition is Single-Exception only one bulb has toggled. This means that the ONLY non-toggled remaining bulb is assigned to the CONTROL switch (B). Temperature logic can be used to determine which switch controls the toggled bulb. If the bulbs original state was 1 and it is cool, it is assigned to switch A. If it is warm it is assigned to switch C. If the bulbs original state was 0 and it is now warm it is assigned to switch A. If it is 1 and cool it is assigned to switch C.

- dwalters January 31, 2015 | Flag Reply


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