Interview Challenge: How Many Times Can You Subtract 6 from 36? Can You Solve It?

Dear All,

Actually, this was a question asked to a candidate in the final round of an interview at Infosys. How many times can you subtract 6 from 36? Can anyone answer this question? Please...

Dear all,

The answer is that it can be subtracted only one time because when we subtract 6 from 36, it becomes 30.

With Regards,
Abi

It should be 6 times. Subtracting 36 by 6 until it's zero. Please post the correct answer if anyone knows. If the above is incorrect.

Regards,
Priyanka

Hi,

6 can be subtracted only once from 36. The logic is when 6 is subtracted from 36, the remainder is 30 and not 36.

Bhupesh

Fully agree with Abirami, of course 6 can only be subtracted once from 36, i.e. (36-6=30) which is the correct answer. You are in confusion as you think that you have to subtract 36 from 6, i.e. again (6-36= -30).

---

Hi friend,

According to me, the answer will be infinite. Why?

36-6=30 30-6=24 24-6=18 18-6=12 12-6=6 6-6=0 0-6=-6 -6-6=-12

And so on. I thought that with this question, the interviewer wants to check your imaginative power and attitude. Can you think from both perspectives at the same time (positive or negative, good or worst)?

Gireesh Kr. Gupta

Guys, this question is not to judge mathematical skills but logical skills. That was really good, Mr. Abirami.

Hi,

The correct answer is 1 (One) as Abhirami mentioned. This same question is asked in various competitive exams like state PSCs, etc.

Sandeep

Hey, sorry, I put the wrong answer. I realized later that it's a one-time thing. Yeah, it relates to logic, and we think in mathematical form. Good one, and it gives a good idea of how to use intellect.

This is a stupid question because the interviewer must be an HR professional who doesn't know mathematics. However, by pure mathematical law, the limit is until the end of positive numbers, i.e., 0. So, mathematically, the correct answer is 0. For logic, the logical answer is to directly leave the interview because your interviewer doesn't even know simple mathematics.

I think it's only one time we can subtract 6 from 36. After subtracting 6 from 36, it becomes 30. Then, if we subtract more, it is subtracting from 30, not 36. So, we can say it is only one time we can subtract 6 from 36. According to my understanding, it may be nonsense.

Neeraj

Your answer may be correct, but why can't 6 be subtracted from 30 again? It should be. I think 6 times is the correct one because how many times have they asked? :-?

Dear Friends,

The answer is 1 only because if you subtract 6 from 36, it becomes 30. Then, you can subtract another 6 from 30 only.

Cheers! Swapna Pramod

Hey all,

According to me, the correct answer is 6 times you can subtract 6 from 36.

Regards,
Prerna

How many times can you subtract 6 from 36? The answer is 6 times because the question is very clear. If you divide 36 by 6, you will get the answer 6.

If my answer is wrong, can you tell me what is right?

Thanks

The answer is one only. It's a simple but a typical question. We people normally think that such a big company can't ask such a simple question in a final round, so there must be some hidden meaning. We started to interpret the question in our way and try to think in a difficult way. But to achieve something big, we should start from something small, and maybe there's the trick of the interviewer. Perhaps by this question, he might want to find out the attention to detail ability of the candidate.

The interviewer asked the candidate, "How many times can 6 be subtracted from 36?" We must remember that he didn't ask the candidate, "How many times can 6 be subtracted from 36 until we get 0?" which is the common interpretation.

The interviewer is trying to see if the interviewee is capable of thinking laterally.

Narasimhan

Dear All,

Good debate, and the answer is one time only as he is asking for form 36, not form 30 or any other number.

Dear Priyanka,

How can you subtract 6 times?
Once you subtract 6 from 36, then only 30 remains, and his question is to subtract 6 from 36, not from 30.

:idea:

The correct answer is one. You can only subtract 6 from 36 once. The next time, you are actually subtracting it from 30, not 36.

Requesting to all,

Kindly share your interview experience so that others will also have an idea to help them before facing an interview.

Regards,
Mukesh Sharma
Ahmedabad

Dear All,

Actually, all the answers posted on the forum are correct. The HR wants to judge the person as follows:

Answer = 6 - Average Person
Answer = 1 - Quick Minded Person
Answer = Infinity - Scholar Research Person

Regards,
Altaf

It is only once because after subtracting 6 from 36, it is 30 not 36.

Regards,
Sangram
9438044166

Hi All,

This is a trick question that has a number of possible answers. The purpose of such questions is to check a candidate's response time and conviction of his own answer. A clear-headed candidate will take much less time to answer than a confused one. The RIGHT, WRONG, or CORRECT answer is not the issue here.

Regards, Desmond John

Dear all,

I think it's only possible to subtract 6 from 36 once, because after subtracting 6 from 36, we would then be subtracting 6 from 30, not 36. Is this correct?

The correct answer depends on the interviewer, so just nod your head to whatever the interviewer says. In the end, if you don't get selected, give that interviewer a piece of your mind and make him realize his foolishness and time wastage by asking such questions. You can also complain against the interviewer to Narayan Murthy and ask him what the answer is.

Dear friends,

Questions such as these are called "lateral thinking puzzles," for which there is no one right answer. In my opinion, Dharmendra has given the most possible right answer.

One time. Here, he asked, "How many times can you subtract 6 from 36?" That is one time. After that, 36 becomes 30. They asked about 36 only.

Hi Abirami,

One can subtract 6 from 36 as many times as one has time and patience. Another answer is only one time, since after subtracting 6 from 36, the remainder is 30, and there is no chance of subtracting again from 36.

Regards,
Narendra

I think it should be 5 times if one wants to subtract repeatedly:

36 - 6 = 30 (i)
30 - 6 = 24 (ii)
24 - 6 = 18 (iii)
18 - 6 = 12 (iv)
12 - 6 = 6 (v)

And for the last time, there is no need to subtract 6 because we are left with 6 only. I hope to be right.

Dear Abirami,

Answer to the question: Only once can we subtract 6 from 36.

Waiting for your reply.

Regards,
Uday

1. 6 times
2. 1 time
3. infinite times

The answer may be any of the above mentioned, but the final thing is whether the applicant is capable of:
- answering the said question,
- demonstrating positive thinking, and
- showing confidence in their response.

Veda

Yes, Of course, Veda. The people here are thinking in a mathematical way. However, this question is asked to check the attitude and positive thinking of the candidate. So, the answer is not the boss here, but the attitude.

I think it can be subtracted only one time because we have not been asked to subtract it any number of times like 5 times or six times or subtract until zero or subtract until alive. Ha ha ha ha ha.

May you got the point, Priyanka.

Regards,
Abdul Basit
+92-345-4109014
abdul.basit1299@gmail.com

Only once. Because when you subtract 6 from 36, the number becomes 30, not 36. Right??

Jayanthi

As much as you want because you want to subtract from 36 and not from 30, 24, or 18, etc. So it's your wish; the final answer will always be 30 since you have asked to subtract from 36 only. Buddy, nice intellectual question... it is called playing around with words.