2QUESTION 2 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
3,900,000
machines
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
Start with Japan's population, about 125 million. Japan is famous for machines on every block. How many people share one? Maybe 1 for every 30.
- Japan population
- 125,000,000
- People per machine
- ~30
- 125M ÷ 30
- ≈ 4 million
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Japan population
- ≈ 124 M
- Density
- ≈ 1 per 32 people
- 124,000,000 ÷ 32
- ≈ 3.9 million
Reference cited by Fermi: Japan Vending System Manufacturers Association (JVMA), Dec 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.