Trading Analyst Interview Questions

Trading Analyst at Madison Tyler Holdings was asked...

Oct 13, 2010

How many degrees are between the hour and minute hand on an analog clock when it is 5:15?

At 6:00 there are 180 degrees between the hour and minute hands. Each of the 6 numbers is 30 degrees. At 5:15, the minute hand is at 3, and the hour hand is past 5. This at least 60 degrees. At 15 minutes we can assume the hour hand is 1/4 of the way to 6, so 30/4 = 7.5. 7.5 + 60 = 67.5 degrees.

whoever posted that above is wrong. the correct answer: Each one hour segment has 15 degs between them. (45degrees = 15 minutes = 3 hours) so between the numbers 3 & 5 = 15 x 2 = 30degs The hour mark moves a 1/4 of the distance between 5&6 = 1/4 x 15 = 3.75 degs Answer = 33.75 degs

The person above in the Feb 8th assume that the all 24 hours is placed into 360 degree. An analog clock shows 12 hours (either AM or PM), and is 360 degrees. Thus, each hour is 30 degrees. Thus the first argument (Oct 20th, 2010) is correct.

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Trading Analyst at Madison Tyler Holdings was asked...

Aug 17, 2011

We play a game. You flip two coins, if you get both heads I give you $1. If you get both tails you flip again. If you get one of each, I pay you nothing. What's the expected value of this game?

6 Answers

Trading Analyst at Madison Tyler Holdings was asked...

Aug 17, 2011

Assume that on a chessboard, the King piece is on tile E1 (bottom row, 5 columns across). It can move straight forward, forward diagonally to the left, or forward diagonally to the right on each move. How many different paths can it take to get to tile E8 (top row, five columns across) in exactly 7 moves?

4 Answers

393 126 141 126 30 45 51 45 30 4 10 16 19 16 10 4 1 3 6 7 6 3 1 1 2 3 2 1 1 1 1 K K is the starting spot for the king. There is 1 way to get to each of the tiles in the row right above K. For the row above the row of 1-1-1, the number of paths to each tile is the sum of the possible paths to each tile that leads to it. (ie, for the first 2 in that row, you can get to it from either of the first two 1s in the row below). This is basically a 'trinomial' expansion as each number is the sum of the 3 numbers directly below it. This continues until the 8th row (where the diamond formation tapers inward since the number of left moves must equal the number of right moves in order to end up in the same column (E) where the King started) The final answer is 393 as demonstrated in the diagram above. It took me well over 30 minutes to get it, and the interviewer had lost all interest by that point. He was still nice in making sure to explain the methodology and ensuring that I arrived at the right answer, but was quick to hang up once the solution had been determined.

I don't think IC is correct. I haven't gone through your methodology, but I think the answer is larger. The piece moves forward each turn. It moves either left, right or straight ahead. Take left=-1, right=+1, straight=0. The sum of 7 such numbers must be 0. Therefore, at least one move must be straight ahead. There are four types or routes. a 0x+1, 0x-1, 7x0 b 1x+1, 1x-1, 5x0 c 2x+1, 2x-1, 3x0 d 3x+1, 3x-1, 1x0 there is only 1 route of type a there are 7x6 of type b, etc. a 1 b 7x6=42 c 7x6x5x4=840 d 7x6x5x4x3x2=5040 a+b+c+d=5923 Am I wrong?

Yes I was wrong. IC was right. there is only 1 route of type a there are 7x6 of type b, etc. there are ((7x6)/2)x((5x4)/2)=210 of type c there are ((7x6x5)/6)x((4x3x2)/6)=140 of type d giving a total of 393

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