The 6 math questions some of Citadel and Jane Street's best interns can answer
One of the most popular ways to flex your mathematical prowess and to get the attention of hedge funds at the same time is to compete in math Olympiads. Hedge fund Citadel says 20-30 of its yearly internship applicants have competed in these competitions. But what do they actually entail?
The International Math Olympiad (IMO) is the highest profile Olympiad, and held its 65th annual tournament last week. It consisted of six problems, each worth seven marks, with nine total hours to answer them. The questions in this year's Olympiad were as follows:
The top ranked country in this year's IMO was the US, followed by China and Korea. Singapore and the UK ranked sixth and seventh, respectively. This year's individual winner was Haojia Shi of China, a 15-year-old Chinese student who now has back-to-back perfect scores in his first two appearances in the competition.
Many members of the IMO hall of fame have worked, or are working, in finance. Alex Song, often regarded as the most successful Olympiad of all time, worked at both Jane Street and Citadel. Allen Liu, a three-time gold medalist, has interned at both Jane Street and D.E. Shaw, but appears to have preferred Google in recent years. 2021 gold medalist Thomas Guo is currently an intern at HFT firm Hudson River Trading.
It's worth noting that none of these Hall of Famers achieved two perfect scores in their IMO career, let alone back-to-back ones. Only one Hall of Famer has three perfect scores, Ciprian Manolescu, who did so in the late 90s. If Shi keeps up his current pace, there may be a bidding war from hedge funds for his skills.
Think you can impress the top trading firms by making sense of these brain busters? Leave your answers in the comments.
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