Brainteaser Elon Musk Asks Job Applicants To Solve Leaves People Scratching Their Heads

People have been left scratching their heads after trying to work out the riddle Elon Musk asks applicants during interviews. See if you can figure it out below:

The tech billionaire likes to test would-be employees with a brainteaser to see how they approach a difficult task.

According to the 49-year-old's official biographer Ashlee Vance, the question really puts people on the spot.

Sharing the riddle to her TikTok account, a mechanical engineer going by the handle @pinkpencilmath said: "Elon Musk asked this question to people that interviewed at SpaceX and Tesla. Think you can get it? Let's try!

"You're standing on the surface of the Earth. You take a walk one mile south, one mile west and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you?"

Errr. Don't think I'll be applying for a job at SpaceX or Tesla anytime soon.

PA

But I'm not the only one. Dozens of others have also been left stumped by the riddle.

Commenting on the post, one perplexed user said: "I'm here in the interview."

Another wrote: "I'm on Earth."

A third sighed: "My home because he is not going to hire me."

Now, there are two possible answers, the first being the North Pole - which some people managed to get in the comments.

"You're standing on the surface of the earth, so if you walk three miles a different way and come back where you started, it is the North Pole," wrote one clever clogs.

However, for those candidates who do get it right, Mr Vance says, there would be a follow-up question: "Where else could you be?"

PA

Mr Vance explained: "The other answer is somewhere close to the South Pole where, if you walk one mile south, the circumference of the Earth becomes one mile.

"Fewer engineers get this answer, and Musk will happily walk them through that riddle and others and cite any relevant equations during his explanations."

Luckily for the more simple among us, there's not much to worry about.

Apparently, Musk doesn't really care what you say, it's just a way of seeing how your brain works.

Mr Vance adds: "[Musk] tends to care less about whether or not the person gets the answer than about how they describe the problem and their approach to solving it."

Good luck if you end up face to face with the man himself.

Topics: tesla, elon musk, SpaceX, US News, Technology

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom