FERMI QUESTIONS

Science Olympiad Summer

Institute
Phoenix, AZ
July 18 22, 2011

What is a Fermi Question?

A rough estimate of a quantity which is
either difficult or impossible to
measure directly (How many drops of
water are in Lake Erie?)
Answers are given in powers of ten
(exponent)
Named after Enrico Fermi

PARAMETERS
Bring pencils
Calculators, computers, slide rules,
reference sheets, etc. are not

allowed
Teams which finish before the
allotted time should turn in their
answer sheet and have the time
recorded by the event supervisor

Writing Answers
Correct power of 10 (exponent) If the
estimated answer (based on a rough
calculation) is 3 x 107, then the answer
is written as 7.
Answers written as 3 x 107 will be
marked as incorrect.
Positive exponents are the default, for
negative exponents the minus sign (-)
must be included.
1.5 x 10-3 is written as -3

Rounding Of
five or greater (up to 9.99...) - round
up
5.00 x 103 is written as 4
4.99 and less and down to one round down
4.99 x 103 is written as 3

SCORING
5 Pts answer is equal to the
accepted value
3 pts answer is +1 of the accepted
value
pt answer is +2 of the accepted
value

What is the circumference of Earth?

One possible solution requires the
answer to these two questions.
How many time zones are there on
Earth?
How many miles/time zone?

How many time zones are there on Earth?

There are 24 hours in a day therefore

there are 24 time zones

How many miles/time zone?

The distance from New York to Los
Angeles is about 3,000 miles
Since the New York and Los Angeles
are 3 time zones apart there is 1000
miles/time zone (3000 mi/3 time
zones = 1000 mi/time zone)

SOLUTION
24 time zones x 1000 miles = 24,000
miles
24,000 = 2.4 x 104
Answer is written as 4

Grading Homework
What is a reasonable number of hours
per week that a teacher should
allocate to grade all of his students
homework if students average 35
min./night five nights/week?

SOLUTION
Assumptions:
1. 5 classes of 25 students/class
2. 5 classes/day
3. 5 days/week
4. Grading papers takes 3 minutes each
Calculations:
3 min/student x 25 students/class x 5
classes/day x 5 days/week = 1875
min/wk / 60 min/hr = 31 hr/wk = 3.1 x
101
Written as: 1

New York Times

How much paper (by volume) does the
New York Times use in one week?

SOLUTION
Assumptions:
Population of New York = 107 people
Circulation = 106 papers/day (most
families by only 1 copy and not every
family subscribes)
Weekday paper measures 1 ft x 1 ft x
.5 in when folded
Sunday paper measures 1 ft x 1 ft x
2 in when folded

Solution (cont.)
Calculations for one week:
6 newspapers/day x /newspaper + 2 (for
the Sunday edition) = 5/week
Total volume/week for one subscription =
1 ft x 1 ft x 5/12ft = .5 ft2
Total volume for all subscriptions =
106 subscriptions x .5ft2/subscription/week =
500,000 cu. ft/per week = 5 x 10 5
Answer is written as 6

KEYS TO SUCCESS
Have good assumptions The best
assumptions are the ones you do not
have to assume (size of a sheet of
paper). Most often you will have to
assume
Equations There isnt much need
for accurate complex equations
Be as accurate as possible with the
most questions

Partner Pairing
Estimator:
a visual/kinetic person with good
memory
able to estimate the dimensions,
weights, etc. of various objects
(artificial and naturally occurring
should know random facts (frequency
of a cordless phone, number of
Crayola colors, demographic
populations, etc.

Partner Pairing (cont.)

Number Cruncher
Performs quick calculations
Knows physical values and
conversions factors such as pounds
in a kilogram, speed of light, etc.

Find and Know Many Facts

Physics facts (speed of sound, wavelength of
a color of light, etc.)
Human body facts (size of a cell, body temp.)
Facts about your State, the United States, or
the World
Remember, since it is impossible to know
everything, just guess. You can be of by a
lot and still get the answer right (its powers
of 10).

FINALLY, REMEMBER
Being of by 50% will still give you
full pts.
You can be of by as much as 250 %
and still get points.
There is no penalty for being wrong,
do not guess blindly
Sometimes it is best to round
something down if you have rounded
something else up

Remember (cont.)
Do not dwell on a single problem
unless it is your last
Keep your calculations neat and
simple
Use common sense