Heard on the Street

Heard on the Street

I bought the book Heard on The Street: Quantitative Questions from Wall Street Job Interviews” by Timothy Falcon Crack several years ago when I was looking for a job and felt that working in finance was a possibility. Despite having bought it simply to prepare for employment interviews, I actually enjoyed the math problems in the book.

The book has problems in logic, probability, statistics and finance, as well as a very useful chapter of general interview questions. If you’re interested in buying this book, I should mention that some questions require calculus and knowledge of financial terms.

I love the author’s taste in problems, and here are some sample questions from the book.

Question 2.7: How many degrees (if any) are there in the angle between the hour and minute hands of a clock when the time is a quarter past three?

Question 5.1.14: Welcome to your interview. Sit in this chair. Excuse me while I tie your arms and legs to the chair. Thank you. Now we are going to play “Russian roulette.” I have a revolver with six empty chambers. Watch me as I load the weapon with two contiguous rounds (i.e., two bullets side-by-side in the cylindrical barrel). Watch me as I spin the barrel. I am putting the gun against your head. Close your eyes while I pull the trigger. This is your lucky day: you are still alive! Our game differs from regular Russian roulette because I am not going to add any bullets to the barrel before we continue, and I am not going to give you the gun.
My question for you: I am going to shoot at you once more before we talk about your résumé. Do you want me to spin the barrel once more, or should I just shoot?

Question 6.1.16: Tell me something you tried but ended up quitting on.

I can tell you what I would have answered to the last question: I tried smoking, but ended up quitting.

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4 Comments

  1. Leo:

    Question 6.1.16: Tell me something you tried but ended up quitting on.

    Answer: Answering this ques….

  2. Tanya Khovanova:

    Leo,

    This is hilarious.

  3. Claudio:

    Question 5.1.14
    Shoot!!!!!!!!
    If you shoot I have 75% of be safe, if you spin the barrel I have 66.7% of safety

  4. Pratik Poddar:

    Q.1 Hour hand moves one round in 12 hours so, 30 degrees in 1 hour and so, 0.5 degrees every minute. So, after 3:00 o clock, our hand would have moved 7.5 degrees in 15 minutes and so, at 3:15, the angle is 7.5 degrees.

    Q.2 If you shoot, chances of being safe is 75%, while in the other case, chances of being safe is 66.66%. So, I will ask him to shoot. 🙂

    Q.3 Tried smoking but quit is hilarious 🙂 Thanx.

    Pratik (https://pratikpoddarcse.blogspot.com)

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