TL;DR
Difference of Squares Mental Trick: A canonical quantitative trading interview question at foundation difficulty. Commonly asked at Optiver, SIG, Akuna Capital, IMC, Flow Traders.
By Valenke Exam Prep Team·Last updated 2026-06-01
foundationRapid Arithmetic
Difference of Squares Mental Trick
Asked at: Optiver, SIG, Akuna Capital, IMC, Flow Traders
Problem
Compute these mentally, each within 5 seconds:
1.
2.
3.
4.
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