TL;DR
Information-Theoretic Sorting Lower Bound: A canonical quantitative trading interview question at intermediate difficulty. Commonly asked at Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sigma.
By Valenke Exam Prep Team·Last updated 2026-06-01
intermediateComplexity & Lower Bounds
Information-Theoretic Sorting Lower Bound
Asked at: Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sigma
Problem
Prove that any comparison-based sorting algorithm must perform at least comparisons in the worst case to sort distinct elements. Use this to establish the lower bound.
Related concepts
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