3QUESTION 3 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
178
sesame seeds
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
Think about eating one. How many seeds come off the top in a single bite? Maybe 20. How many bites is a Big Mac? Call it 8.
- Seeds per bite
- ~20
- Bites in a Big Mac
- × 8
- 20 × 8
- ≈ 160
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Harper's Index, average sesame seeds on a Big Mac
- 178
- Fort Myers Beach Observer, Big Mac facts (June 2009)
- 178
- ≈
- 178
Reference cited by Fermi: Harper's Index: 178 sesame seeds on the average Big Mac bun
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.