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Presentation slides for Ignite Salt Lake 2011 on Fermi Questions. It's kind of fluffy without the talk behind it, but there it is.
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Fermi Questions
How to Know What You Know
And Do Something About It
why?
understand and contribute
why?
deal with a gazilion bits of daily information
who?Enrico Fermi
what?
• Piano tuners in Chicago? 125• Jelly beans in a liter jar? 240• Extraterrestrial civilizations in the
galaxy? 2.31
not really
but kind of
useful before you
put a gazillion hours into a project
how?
specific question
simple questions
add it up
check for sanity
how?
specific questions
simple questions
add it up
check for sanity
how?
specific questions
simple questions
add it up
check for sanity
how?
specific questions
simple questions
add it up
check for sanity
A Good Sanity Check
Monte Carlo Methods
Run it a Gazillion Times
Then Add It Up
Think in Ranges
Doesn't Have to Be Mathy
Poll of 5
Go Wild
• How long until a cure for cancer?• How many people have Maple
Syrup Urine Disease?• How many people might buy my
product?
Go Wild
Support and Attributions
Practice and Sharehttp://openmobi.us
• Slide 5: Enrico Fermi by Argonne National Laboratory CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
• Slide 9: Focus by ihtatho CC BY-NC 3.0• Slide 11: question marks by Gillian Maniscalco
CC BY-SA 3.0• Slide 16: Albert Einstein by Thomas Thomas CC BY-NC 3.0• Slide 17: Mosaic by Leo Reynolds CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
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