OK I concede that they'd pass it, I suppose I'm just amused at picturing the scene.

"Can you invert a binary tree?"

"I wrote a book on binary trees!"

"That's very nice. The clock is ticking, you now 19 minutes left... "

I picture the scene as:

"...and that's the answer."

"Sorry...you're wrong. That's not how we solve it."

"I wrote the book on it. I just solved it for you starting from first principles. It can be used as a proof."

"Sorry...if you can't think the way we do you just won't fit in."

"I asked you to write an algorithm, not a bunch of Greek letters. Is that your fraternity or something?"

If that's the answer you get, be glad. Dodged a bullet. Go find a job somewhere else where they value your skills. There was no good fit to begin with.