We used to joke that if you put two hiring authorities in a room, regardless of industry or discipline, you could get three opinions on almost any topic. Doesn't matter what the question is, the important thing is that individuals will have an opinion as to what answers are right.
Correct is good and what most interviewers expect, but breaking down a problem and detailing your approach to solving each individual part is even better. In this vein do not skip past what you might consider to be the 101 parts of the question/answer, because it's conceivable that that is exactly what they expect you to do. Forgetting or omitting fundamentals is not being clever and will say a lot about the value you place on what you've learned. I've had candidates who understood and could articulate the fundamentals still give incorrect answers, but be rewarded with job offers anyway because they were able to combine what they knew with either an unconventional or bold or creative approach to solving the problem.
Out in the world the other day, I'm riding an elevator around lunch-time and four tech types are heatedly discussing a computer science question that one of them had just posed to a job candidate during an interview. While he was passionately explaining his optimal answer, the others were busy tearing his solution apart and offering what they described as more elegant alternatives and effective work-arounds.
All of them worked for the same company (same badges), each had an opinion, no two were alike, yet all of them got hired...vinny
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