&quot;But they do expect you to be able to reason from a problem statement to something approximating a solution.&quot;<p>In under 45 minutes? Are you really concerned with their ability to even naively solve an algorithmic problem in that time frame? I would think not. No, this is not only flawed, but it&#x27;s so deeply flawed (and easily exploitable), that you&#x27;re not even interviewing for skill set anymore, simply either 1) someone&#x27;s luck for having been exposed to the problem before or 2) their ability to remember things they don&#x27;t use day to day.<p>Congratulations, you&#x27;re hiring lucky people or idiot savants.