Medium · Expected Value & Decision Theory · Multiple choice · ~6 min · #53

Square, Product or Median Squared?

Real interview · Jane Street

Which of these has the highest expected value?

The square of a single fair die roll.
The product of two independent fair die rolls.
The square of the median of three independent fair die rolls.

Hints · 0 of 2 shown

Worked solution

Give the problem an honest attempt first, then reveal the full explanation.

Reported in interviews

Jane StreetGlassdoor interview question

Candidate-reported and unverified; the firm may phrase it differently or no longer ask it. The wording here is our own paraphrase, and the solution was written and checked independently of any answers posted at the source.

Concepts

Jensen's inequalityVarianceOrder statistics

Relevant for

Quant TraderQuant Researcher