Appendix
Readings and Materials
Weinstein, Guesstimation
Activities
Pizza Example
This is a simple example to illustrate estimation and modeling.
We are going to spend money on pizza
If we spend too much, we waste pizza
If we spend too little, folks go hungry
As you can see, the stakes are high
Pizza estimation
Estimate how many pizzas it would take to feed this class?
How did you arrive at your answer?
Does it matter how accurate our estimate is?
How accurate does our estimate need to be?
Important quantities
How many people in the room
How much pizza does the average person eat?
Note that our numbers describe something physical
Set up computation
Metta World Pizza
Estimate how many pizzas it would take for a world-wide pizza party
What were your assumptions?
Related estimations
How much dough do we need?
How many acres of wheat is that?
How much cheese?
How many cows is that?
World scale estimations
The calculation to determine the dietary needs of all humans on the
planet isn't that far from this method of estimation.
How much land would this take?
Body Calibrations
For many simple units, it is useful to know lengths as they relate to you body.
Inches and centimeters can be found on your hands
How far up your body is a meter?
What is a cubit?
How long is your stride when walking?
How fast do you walk?
Fermi Problems
What is your estimate of the world population?
How many students at Sonoma State?
How many nail salons are there in Rohnert Park?
Body Estimations
Determine the parts of your body that are close to common measures of length.
Centimeter
Inch
Meter
Also, your stride is a useful measurement for long distances. Walk at a natural pace and determine the length of your stride.
Making estimates
Using the length standards you have created with your body, estimate the following lengths and show your conversions.
Length and width of your desk
Length and width of the ETC
Example:
Use both metric and english units for each answer.
Last updated