Why this question matters
Akuna Capital uses a Interview in its 2027 recruiting process, and it cuts a large share of candidates who meet the questions cold. This prompt tests translating a non-empty two-desk allocation into a power-of-two count and finding its last digit. Candidates who have rehearsed the underlying decision or calculation can spend their limited time showing judgement instead of decoding the task.
The real question
Here is the wording shown to candidates:
Akuna is opening two new market making groups trading options on European and Australian stocks, and has hired 30 incoming traders for these two groups. Let N be the number of different ways to assign the 30 traders to the two desks such that each desk has at least one trader. What is the last digit of N?
How answers lose points
- Treating the traders as identical: Each incoming trader creates a separate assignment choice.
- Using combinations for one fixed desk size: The prompt allows every split except an empty desk.
- Forgetting the invalid extremes: The all-Europe and all-Australia assignments violate the non-empty condition.
- Computing the full power: Only the final digit is needed, so a repeating cycle is safer.
- Assuming the desks are interchangeable: European and Australian groups are distinct destinations.
How a strong answer works
- Give each of the thirty distinct traders two labelled desk choices.
- Count all assignments as a power of two.
- Remove the two cases in which everyone is placed on the same desk.
- Use the repeating last-digit cycle of powers of two rather than expanding the number.
- Apply the subtraction to the final digit and check that the result matches one option.
The response should make the logic visible in order. Each important step needs a reason, and the final line should connect the result back to what the prompt actually asks.
Get the complete set
OfferTutoring keeps the complete Akuna Capital interview question set together. This is only one prompt, and seeing the full range beforehand is more useful than trying to improvise each pattern for the first time during the assessment.
