2QUESTION 2 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
39,000
screens
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
Start with the US population, about 330 million. How many screens does a town get? A town of 100,000 might have one theater with 10 screens, which is one screen for every 10,000 people.
- US population
- 330,000,000
- One screen per
- ≈ 10,000 people
- 330M ÷ 10,000
- ≈ 33,000
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Indoor screens, December 31, 2022 (NATO)
- 38,474
- Drive-in screens, summer 2022 (NATO)
- + 533
- Total
- = 39,007
- Rounded
- ≈ 39,000 screens
Reference cited by Fermi: National Association of Theatre Owners (now Cinema United), Number of U.S. Movie Screens: 39,007 at the end of 2022
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.