Fermi Problems

Sometimes it's fun to try to calculate without knowing everything

I was reading about these estimation problems called Fermi problems, named after the physicist Enrico Fermi. The idea is to try to approach enormous problems by playing with estimations, knowing that you will nearly certainly be off by a significant amount.

But if you think critically, even though you're wrong, you will be in an order of magnitude of the correct answer. Double degree students will get flashbacks to Swanston's BU111.

What blows my mind is that Enrico Fermi managed to estimate the strength of the atomic bomb during one of their first tests in the Manhattan Project. He got within an factor of 2 (according to a quick google search)

Absolutely wild.

I'm not fully sure about the background of when Fermi came up with these, or at least when it was named after him, but it must definitely have inspired his Fermi Paradox (the calculation of the likelihood of intelligent life existing in our universe)

Here are some more of those problems:

• "Are there more doors or wheels in the world?" - This was trending on reels a while back
• How many photos are taken worldwide every year?
• How many additional steps/calories burned has UW caused by closing the MC-DC bridge?