2QUESTION 2 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
350,000,000
cans
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
Start with the US population, about 330 million. How many cans of soda does the average American drink in a day? Plenty of people have none, but spread across everyone call it 1 can a day.
- US population
- 330,000,000
- Cans per person per day
- ≈ 1
- 330M × 1
- ≈ 330 million
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- US per-capita carbonated soft drink consumption (Beverage Marketing Corp, 2024)
- 34.8 gallons/year
- Converted to 12 oz cans
- ≈ 371 cans/year/person
- ÷ 365 days, × US population (≈340M)
- ≈ 350 million
Reference cited by Fermi: Beverage Marketing Corporation per-capita carbonated soft drink data, via Beverage Industry (2024)
How close was your guess?
Your comparison will appear here.
Compare by ratio: divide the larger number by the smaller one. The closer to 1×, the better.