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TL;DR

The Secret Santa Problem: A canonical quantitative trading interview question at intermediate difficulty. Commonly asked at Jane Street, HRT, Jump Trading.

By Valenke Exam Prep Team·Last updated 2026-06-01
intermediateCombinatorial Arguments

The Secret Santa Problem

Asked at: Jane Street, HRT, Jump Trading

Problem
At a holiday party, nn people each put their name in a hat. Each person draws a name at random. What is the probability that no one draws their own name? Compute the exact answer for n=5n = 5, and find the limiting probability as nn \to \infty.

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