Estimation Interview Questions

Exponent - "This is a Fermi problem — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. There's no right answer: interviewers want to understand how you think and how well you can explain your reasoning, rather than what you already know. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Think about edge cases to add to equation **Breakdown components of your equat"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a Fermi problem — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. There's no right answer: interviewers want to understand how you think and how well you can explain your reasoning, rather than what you already know. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Think about edge cases to add to equation **Breakdown components of your equat"See full answer

JD - "Questions: What is the purpose of the scooters? (commuting in between office buildings or zipping across on the floor or for employees to be able to get to locations nearby e.g. lunch, coffee ) Is the entire workforce in the same building or multiple buildings? If the employees in multiple buildings how far apart are they? Where are the offices located? (lousy weather would mean more employees using scooters to save time and a more convenient transport) Estimation: Planning for highes"See full answer

Exponent - "First, it's important to recognize this type of question as a Fermi question in disguise. We need to estimate the total market size of Dropbox for small and medium-sized businesses, which involves approximating things like the number of SMBs as well as the average revenue per SMB to get to our answer. Luckily, we have a playbook for these kinds of questions. Here's our formula for tackling Fermi questions: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know **Make equation(s)"See full answer

Yonatan G. - "Thanks for the question. I would like to start off by asking some clarifying questions: When we say a holiday season, are we referring to the 15 registered holidays in a year? or the holiday season on Mid November until January 15 for thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year? When we say a medium-sized company, are we referring to a US company or an international company? When we say how much productivity is lost, is it in terms of revenue, production, hours, engagement? I would like to g"See full answer

Himant G. - "World's population of 7.5BB - MInus china and Russia = 5.5BB Estimated Rural and remote areas are about 50% That gives an estimated population back 2.8 BB Assume 4 people per household -- 2.8/4 = 0.7 BB households in rural areas Assume google's market share is 60%, with YOY growth of 10% 0.7 BB * 60% - .42BB households * 10$ = 4.2BB"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a Fermi problem — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. There's no right answer: interviewers want to understand how you think and how well you can explain your reasoning, rather than what you already know. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Think about edge cases to add to equation **Breakdown components of your equat"See full answer

Vicky X. - "4000"See full answer

Misho S. - "California is a big state and it has roughly 35 million in population, so if we assume there is a gas station for every 500 people so there would be roughly 35,000,000 divided by 500 equal to 70,000 gas station allover the state"See full answer

Exponent - "This is another Fermi problem — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. There's no right answer: interviewers want to understand how you think and how well you can explain your reasoning, rather than what you already know. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Think about edge cases to add to equation **Breakdown components of your"See full answer

Danyal R. - "Understand the problem: Chipotle is a chain, located across the US. It's in every major city Make Assumptions I'm assuming in each state there's approx 5 Chipotle restaurants. So in total across US there is 5 * 50 = 250 Chipotle's Let's calculate the sales revenue for a whole year. Create an equation Total Yearly Revenue = # of people going to Chipotle X* *frequency X cost of a meal Break down the problem \# of people going to Chipotle There's about 300M in the US. Out of 300M I'll a"See full answer

Exponent - "This is another Fermi problem — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. There's no right answer: interviewers want to understand how you think and how well you can explain your reasoning, rather than what you already know. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Think about edge cases to add to equation **Breakdown components of your"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a Fermi problem — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. There's no right answer: interviewers want to understand how you think and how well you can explain your reasoning, rather than what you already know. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Think about edge cases to add to equation **Breakdown components of your equat"See full answer

Exponent - "This is a fun Fermi problem asked recently by Facebook — an estimation or approximation problem with limited information and back-of-the-envelope calculations. Recall the formula for Fermi problems: Ask clarifying questions Catalog what you know Make equation(s) Breakdown components of your equation Review and state assumptions Compute Sanity Check Summarize Ask clarifying questions It's wise here to slow down and get some clari"See full answer