What Is 1+1?

The board of directors of a prominent multinational corporation met to hire a replacement for their retiring CEO. On the list of applicants were three men, an accountant, a mathematician and a lawyer. The board interviewed all three in turn, and asked each the same question.

"What's one and one?", they asked of the accountant. "Two, of course" he replied. The chairman of the board thanked the accountant and invited in the mathematician.

"What's one and one?", asked the chairman. "Well", said the mathematician, "It depends on your number base. If you're using the decimal system, it's two, of course, but if you're using binary numbers, it's one zero, which looks like ten". The chairman thanked the mathematician, sent him out, and asked in the lawyer.

"What's one and one?" he asked. The lawyer went over to the windows and drew the curtains. He then went over to the door, locked and tested it, and came to stand before the table around which the board was seated. He placed his hands on the table, looked each board member squarely in the eye in turn and said "Tell me, gentlemen, what would you like it to be?"

He was hired.