What’s Trader Graham’s “cute solution” that skips the algebra? [closed]
Closed as unclear by Peter Taylor on Aug 27, 2026 at 19:49
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I transcribe this Jane Street Trading Mock Interview with Graham (G henceforth) and [Andrea Zhang] (AZ)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-zhang-32a238171), dated November 8th 2022, starting at 14:00/25:42. please elaborate this "cute way" to skip the algebra? why does this "cute way" work "to skip the algebra"?
G: And I guess there is a cute way to see this. So, you, I think, calculated that you were gonna make about $500 dollars over 100 turns, right? So how much money can you make each turn, roughly?
A: 5 bucks.
G: So, should you spend a turn picking up a 7?
A: OHHHH!!!
G: Yea!
A: That makes a lot of sense.
G: That way, you get to skip the algebra.
A: That’s really nice.
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