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A clever way to estimate enormous numbers - Michael Mitchell

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Have you ever tried to guess how many pieces of candy there are in a jar? Or tackled a mindbender like: “How many piano tuners are there in Chicago?” Physicist Enrico Fermi was very good at problems like these -- learn how he used the power of 10 to make amazingly fast estimations of big numbers.

When you use Fermi Problems, you are depending on a large number of estimates to produce a reasonable answer. How is this possible?

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TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Animator Mark Phillips
  • Educator Michael Mitchell
  • Narrator Michael Mitchell

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