: What is the quadratic variation of a standard Brownian motion over the interval ? Prove it heuristically.
of landing heads. How can you use it to generate a perfectly fair 50/50 outcome?
How does adding a Merton jump component to Geometric Brownian Motion impact short-term option smiles?
To clear a quantitative finance interview, knowing the answers to these questions is only half the battle. Focus on communication:
What is the exact probability of being dealt a full house in a standard 5-card poker hand? Markov Chains & Random Walks 150 Most Frequently Asked Questions On Quant Interviews
: Two players gamble with a fair coin. Player A starts with and Player B starts with . The loser of each toss gives
: Describe the philosophy behind MLE. How do you find the log-likelihood function for a normal distribution?
Why are managed memory languages like Java or C# often avoided in ultra-low latency execution systems?
What are the two core conditions required to apply Dynamic Programming to an optimization problem (e.g., Knapsack problem)? : What is the quadratic variation of a
(abcd)the 2 by 2 matrix; Row 1: a, b; Row 2: c, d end-matrix;
Probability is the "bread and butter" of quant trading. Expect questions that test your ability to calculate odds on the fly.
-fold cross-validation flawed when applied to financial time series data? What is the correct approach?
What is the probability that the sum of two 6-sided dice is 8? How can you use it to generate a
Describe the mathematical framework behind Importance Sampling. How do you select an alternative proposal distribution?
: What are the equivalent definitions of a symmetric positive definite (SPD) matrix? Why are they vital for portfolio optimization?
What is vectorization? How do modern compilers use Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD) to speed up portfolio calculations?