1QUESTION 1 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
130
tuners
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
The easiest place to start is NYC's 3 million households. How many own a piano? Not many, maybe 1 in 50. Each gets tuned about once a year, and one tuner handles roughly 500 a year.
- NYC households
- ~3,000,000
- Own a piano
- ~1 in 50
- One tuner does ~500/yr
- ÷ 500
- 60,000 ÷ 500
- ≈ 120
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Households in NYC
- ≈ 3.3 M
- Share with a piano
- × 1.5 %
- Tunings per piano per year
- × 1
- Tunings one tuner does / year
- ÷ 380
- ≈ 3,300,000 × 0.015 ÷ 380
- ≈ 130
Reference cited by Fermi: Fermi's classic estimation problem
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