1QUESTION 1 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
5,317
free throws
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
Shaq played about 20 seasons. How many games a season? The schedule is 82, but he missed some, so call it 70. He got fouled a lot and made about half, so maybe 10 tries and 5 misses a game.
- Seasons
- ~20
- Games a season
- × 70
- Misses a game
- × 5
- 20 × 70 × 5
- ≈ 7,000
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Free throws attempted, 1,207 regular-season games
- 11,252
- Free throws made (52.7%)
- - 5,935
- 11,252 - 5,935
- = 5,317
Reference cited by Fermi: Basketball-Reference.com, Shaquille O'Neal career totals: 5,935 made of 11,252 free throws attempted in the regular season
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.