[thedufer]

The second problem is not well-defined, so how long it takes has considerably more to do with how many possible interpretations you have to try before you get it right and how long it takes you to grok the grid scheme than how long it actually takes you to solve problems of that nature. You may want to consider rewriting it. As it is, I've lost any interest I initially had in your company as a whole. You need to stand out to applicants as much as they need to stand out to you, and this is doing exactly the opposite.

[o1iver]

Please elaborate... I don't understand the criticism. I find the question quite interesting. What is ambiguous about it?

[thedufer]

It does not state whether all 250 items must have unique codes. It also is not clear whether, in the questions, the guest chooses a random code (unlikely), a known item, or an item that is marked as being on the menu.

The second question is very misleading, because the answer is obvious without any math at all, which led me to believe I had misinterpreted the problem completely.

Finally, when you call something a grid, I expect it to be 2-dimensional, and without a picture this is the image that stuck. It took me longer than it should have just to grok this basic premise of the problem.

Addendum: it is also not clear whether the five items must be five distinct items, i.e. drawing with vs. without replacement.

On a related note, pages with no title and no favicon give a feeling of illegitimacy. This also added to my overall poor impression of this startup.