Title: I was recently chatting with friends and the question came up:
    When hiring a programmer, FizzBuzz is sometimes
    (and controversially) used as an initial filter.
    What&#x27;s an equivalent filter for mathematicians?<p>I know that HN is filled with people who have specializations outside of programming, so I ask:<p><pre><code>    What is your specialization, and
    what is your &quot;FizzBuzz&quot; equivalent?
</code></pre>
<i>Added in edit: Fascinating answers - thank you. I&#x27;d love to respond to many of them but that would probably trip the HN flame-war detector, penalise the item, and I&#x27;d get no more replies! If you want a reply, email me, or make sure your email is in your profile. And thanks again to all.</i>
Upvote: