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top| Fermi Questions |
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| "... the estimation of rough but quantitative answers to unexpected questions about many aspects of the natural world. The method was the common and frequently amusing practice of Enrico Fermi, perhaps the most widely creative physicist of our times. Fermi delighted to think up and at once to discuss and to answer questions which drew upon deep understanding of the world, upon everyday experience, and upon the ability to make rough approximations, inspired guesses, and statistical estimates from very little data." [Philip Morrison [1]] |
The idea is to use approximate calculation with landmarks and deep understanding, to explore the world and your understanding of it. Honesty is important.
Fermi questions are also called Fermi problems. I believe questions better captures the original usage and flavor, and my current intent.
Fermi problems are now being used from first grade (kindergarten?) through graduate school. And with families.
"What order of magnitude is ...?" game
A Pinocchio estimation game
Some authentic Fermi questions (Fermi questions by Fermi):
[1] Philip Morrison, Letters to the Editor, Am. J. Phys., August 1963, v31n8 p626-627.
"[...] It is by no means possible to specify the training and readiness of a prospective graduate student by a mere list of topics. There is a kind of power over the theoretical and experimental studies in which he has engaged which is difficult to define, but whose presence is perhaps more important that much knowledge which is more formal and complete. There is one test for such power which is at the same time a remarkably apt method for its development. That is [... Fermi questions ...].What is the photon flux at the eye from a faint visible star?
How far can a crow fly?
How many atoms could be reasonably claimed to belong to the jurisdiction of the United States?
What is the output power of a firefly, a French horn, an earthquake?Such questions can of course be found for nearly any level of education. It should go without saying that no such question fulfills its purpose unless it is being heard for the first time. The accumulation of confidence and skill which such answers bring is a very good apprenticeship to research. Indeed, the conception of experiments and the formation of theoretical hypotheses are activities which are well simulated by asking and answering good Fermi questions."
[Morrison [1]]
Comments encouraged. - Mitchell N Charity <mcharity@lcs.mit.edu> |
Notes:
Re family Fermi Problem-Solving Saturdays,
"They were fun and went over quite well."
Doables:
Introduce "FermiQ".
Say numeracy.
Link something about Problem Based Learning, Inquiry,
using FermiQ's for Assessment, "number sense".
www-ed.fnal.gov probably has something, but oy...
Add http://www.simpson.edu/~gittinge/math_methods/Fermi_Problems.doc .
soinc.org will "in the future" have a page on Olympiad trial/pilot events inc FermiQs.
Pull links to related local pages into body of page, and gloss.
"Fermi approximations" is used in [Programming Perls], but not elsewhere.
History:
2003-Feb-04 Flagged 4 newly broken links.
2002-Oct-07 Added a link (actually 4).
2002-Sep-14 Added 2+e links, note on breadth of current usage.
2002-Sep-05 Fixed 5 links. Removed 1. Added many. And reorganized.
Removed ancient page clutter. Fixed quote typo.
All prompted by a reader's interest.
2002-Jan-01 Updated a link.
2001-Mar-13 Fixed a link.
2000-Mar-14 Added `Order-of-Magnitude Astrophysics'.
1999.Dec.19 Added phys-l link.
1999.Nov.25 Added pfrancis link.
1999.Nov.21 Added some links. Fixed/removed others.
1998.Aug.03 Added some links.
1997.Aug.12 Added Mayonnaise link.
1997.mid Created.