POW #1 - Hide and Seek

Name: __________________

I am hiding in one of the five boxes. The boxes are numbered one to five and are all sitting in a

row, lined up in order. Each night, I will hide in an adjacent box, exactly one box away from the

box I’m in during the day. Each morning, you can open exactly one box to see if I am in there.

Can you say with certainty that you will find me? How can you go about this hide and seek

game to ensure you find me?

Honors Question: Try this with 4 boxes, 6 boxes, and then see if you can come up with a plan

for n - boxes.

I am not expecting you to be able to solve this problem without help. I, however, would like to

see your thinking about the problem and how you would go about winning the game of hide and

seek. This problem has been used for tech interviews to see the thought process of their

applicants, not necessary to see how smart the applicants are.

Rubric: (10 Points available)

Problem Statement: State what you are trying to do. Explain your initial thoughts on the

problem and what your first steps are going to be. (3 Points)

Process/Solution: State the process you took while going about the problem and show all of

your work. Explain your thought process and why you believe you would be able find me in our

game of hide and seek. State your solution for the different possibility and how many tries you

think it would take to find me? (4 Points)

Reflection: What about this problem made you think? Did you enjoy this problem? Why or why

not? How would you approach a difficult/impossible interview question if it was given to you?

(3 Points)

Problem Statement: There were 5 boxes each day the person would need to change their spot

to the next box the next day. The person only can move to the adjacent box. My thought on this

problem is to start with box 2 because when I start with this box if I find the person I win, if not

the next day the person will not be in box 1.

Process/Solution:

For 4 Boxes first day I checked box 2. If the person is not in box 2 then the person could not be

in the box on the next day. Day 2 I check box 3. I know if the person is not in box 3 then the

person will not be in box 2 the next day because the person is not in box 1 or 3. Day 3 I check

box 3 again to make sure that the person is not in box 4. And I also know the person is not in
box 2 as well. So day 4 I check box 2 I will find the person.

For 5 Boxes On day 1, I check box 2. If the person is not in box 2, then the person could not be

in box 1 the next day. Day 2, I check box 3. I already know the person is not in box 1 on this day,

and if the person is not in box 3, then there is no way for the person to be in box 2 the next day.

Day 3, I check box 4. Since the person is also not in box 2, there is no way it can move to either

box 1 or box 3 the next day. So, if the person is not in box 4, it also cannot move to box 5 the

next day.Therefore, I know the person cannot be in box 1, 3, or 5 for the start of day 4. It must

be in 2 or 4 to start day 4. Day 4, I check box 4. If the person is not there, then I know the

person must have been in box 2, and it can move to box 1 or 3. Day 5, I check box 3. If the
person is not there, I know the person must have moved to box 1 the night before, so now the

person has to move to box 2 the next day. Day 6, I check box 2 and the person has to be there.

In this I see a parton this parton will help to solve any boxes. Step 1: Check the boxes 2, 3, 4,

5,6,7,8,9…, n – 1 Step 2: search n – 1, n – 2, n-3 …,9,8,7,6,5, 4, 3, 2. For example if there were

100 boxes on day 1 you search box 2, day 2 search 3, day 4 search box 4 keep doing this until

you reach box 99 which is n-1. After this step if you still haven't found the person, search from

box 99 ,98,97, until to box 2 because until you reach box 2 the person must be in box 2.

6 boxes
Reflection: this problem was confusing at first when I first got this problem. But after I solve the

5 boxes the problem gets easy. I enjoy this problem because after you get the patron you will

solve this kind of problem easily. If a difficult/impossible interview question was given to me I

would try it first then I will ask someone if my thinking is right. If my thinking is not right I will try

to make it right.