How To Solve Estimation Problems

Before freaking out, just remember: the interviewer does not care what your actual numbers are.

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For instance, in the schoolbus weight question, sum each component’s weight for the final number. Tell your interviewer if, based on a quick gut check, you think your answer is an overestimate or an underestimate.

Explain to your interviewer what factors you would consider if you had more time.

Our approach here will be to estimate the road density for a square mile of the US.

Specifically, given a square mile of the US, how much road is in it?

We can then apply this logic to other elements of the car, by breaking down the problem and estimating smaller quantities.

Argumentative Essay On Stem Cell Research - How To Solve Estimation Problems

Explain your methodology and try to reason through the problem with logic.This interview question tests how you think, not the final answer.Ask questions to clarify the scope of the problem in question.So, how is a PM interviewee supposed to answer this question?Are you expected to come up with a reasonable final number?Specifically, how will you go about breaking down the problem into component pieces so that the problem becomes more tractable?Let’s take a few examples to clarify: We already memorized that there are 3M square miles of land in the continental US.Explain why you’ve decided to choose a particular number!Let’s take a couple examples to demonstrate: How would you go about estimating the weight of elements like tires, if you have absolutely no idea? Most humans can pick up a tire, so it can’t be more than 50lbs.We can break down this problem into rural and urban square miles, as we’d expect the road density to be substantially different.Generally, with these estimation questions, there are a variety of great approaches.