Sum Multiples of Three, Five, or Seven
Last updated: July 27, 2026
Quick Overview
This question asks the candidate to write a function that calculates the sum of all multiples of three, five, or seven up to a given number.
Upstart
July 27, 202611
0
79 solved
This question asks the candidate to write a function that calculates the sum of all multiples of three, five, or seven up to a given number.
This question is typically asked during the online assessment round for software engineering candidates at Upstart. The interviewer is evaluating the candidate's problem-solving skills, coding ability, and understanding of basic algorithmic principles. It tests the candidate's ability to write efficient code and handle edge cases while demonstrating a clear thought process.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Clearly define the problem and outline the approach.
- Implement a solution using efficient algorithms.
- Handle edge cases, such as negative numbers or zero.
- Explain the time and space complexity of the solution.
- Provide a clean and readable code structure with comments.
Key Topics to Cover
How to Approach This
- Clarify input constraints and edge cases before writing code.
- Walk through your approach verbally and confirm with the interviewer before coding.
- Start with a brute force solution, then optimize. Mention time and space complexity.
- Test your solution with examples, including edge cases like empty input or duplicates.
- Consider common patterns: sliding window, two pointers, hash map, BFS/DFS, dynamic programming.
Possible Follow-up Questions
- How would you optimize your solution for larger numbers?
- Can you explain how you would handle negative inputs?
- What would you change if the multiples were not limited to three, five, or seven?
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Practice DSA ProblemsSample Answer
Approach
To solve the problem, we will iterate through all numbers from 1 to the given limit and check if each number is a multiple of three, five, or seven. If it is, we will add it to a cumulative sum....
Algorithm
Here is the Python code that implements the above approach:
def sum_multiples(limit):
total_sum = 0
for num in range(1, limit):
if num % 3 == 0 or num % 5 == 0 or num % 7 ==...
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