I would love to find the definitive resource for preparing for interviews like this. Besides answers like "just be awesome", is there such a book or page?
In the past I've searched for various compendiums of algorithm interview questions and saw the cycle detection one come up. I knew I would never be able to solve such a problem on the spot. This blog post initially put it in perspective for me, that its pretty much a BS academic question that you have to already know the answer to - until I read the comments here, full of totally awesome alpha SV nerds who are saying "I instantly got the optimal answer without any foreknowledge". Now I don't know what to think.
In the past I've searched for various compendiums of algorithm interview questions and saw the cycle detection one come up. I knew I would never be able to solve such a problem on the spot. This blog post initially put it in perspective for me, that its pretty much a BS academic question that you have to already know the answer to - until I read the comments here, full of totally awesome alpha SV nerds who are saying "I instantly got the optimal answer without any foreknowledge". Now I don't know what to think.