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, 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 , and find the limiting probability as .
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