Hedge Fund interview questions

sle · Jun 8, 2005

Quote from spyglass:

I would say the answer is 48. There are 2 right angles on a clock for each hour of the day times 24 hours.

dude, there is only (at most!) one exactly-right angle per every hour. Also, the two hours do not show exact right angles (noon+midnight), so it must be 22 times. you can solve this by doing some simple fraction/radian math. in my opinion, this does not make me any smarter or suitable for working at a hedge fund, especially for trading equity.

jsimmons · Jun 8, 2005

Quote from sle:

dude, there is only (at most!) one exactly-right angle per every hour. Also, the two hours do not show exact right angles (noon+midnight), so it must be 22 times. you can solve this by doing some simple fraction/radian math. in my opinion, this does not make me any smarter or suitable for working at a hedge fund, especially for trading equity.

ehhh... wrong answer

sle · Jun 8, 2005

oops, right angle = 90, not 180 (did a literal translation first)... yep, then .5pi and it's 44 times in 24 hours (midnight and noon still don't count)

jsimmons · Jun 8, 2005

Quote from sle:

oops, right angle = 90, not 180 (did a literal translation first)... yep, then .5pi and it's 44 times in 24 hours (midnight and noon still don't count)

You're hired!!

toe · Jun 10, 2005

I dont understand what midnight and noon have to do with it. To me the first is just after 12:15am the second just after 12:45am and so on untill the last which is just after 11:45pm. That makes two for each hour twice, or 44.

ech15 · Jun 10, 2005

a lot of these questions are intended to see how one reacts during stressful environment and of course how intelligent one is. similar type of those questions are asked by ibank and consulting too as much of hedgefund population come from them. recently i was asked whether there is a way to tell a good trader-to-be from giving a 30 min - 1hr interview. i told him i don't know. i hope i knew.

AK100 · Jun 10, 2005

Just tell them you have no morals about skimming client money and you should be ok.

Remember the number one goal of Wall Street is to transfer client money from their wallets to yours. And if the clients can make some money as well then all the better, but it's not a necessity.

PS. Also have the balls to say to them that their stupid questions are irrelevant therefore you're not going to answer them......

jgfutures · Jun 10, 2005

Quote from toe:

I dont understand what midnight and noon have to do with it. To me the first is just after 12:15am the second just after 12:45am and so on untill the last which is just after 11:45pm. That makes two for each hour twice, or 44.

Actually, it is approximately 12:16 am when the first 90 degree occurs. As the minute hand moves, so does the hour hand. Therefore, you slowly give up time over 12 hours, only achieving 22 90 degree angles over a 12 hour period.

BOSS_HOG · Jun 10, 2005

Quote from AK100:

Just tell them you have no morals about skimming client money and you should be ok.

Remember the number one goal of Wall Street is to transfer client money from their wallets to yours. And if the clients can make some money as well then all the better, but it's not a necessity.

PS. Also have the balls to say to them that their stupid questions are irrelevant therefore you're not going to answer them......

Disregard this guy's post, he has no idea of what he is talking about....

late apex · Jun 10, 2005

As has been correctly stated, the answer is 44. There are 44 times during the (24-hour) day when the hour hand and the minute hand form a right, 90-degree angle.

One possible reasoning: there are 2 right angles every hour, with 2 exceptions: 2-3 and 8-9, when there is only 1 right angle during that hour.