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How many quarters do you need to reach the height of the Empire State Building?

DifficultyestimationAsked at Google

Question Explain

This is an estimation question, so it's not about getting the most precise answer, but about demonstrating your ability to think logically and estimate. The interviewer wants to see if you can break down a complex problem into manageable pieces.

To handle this question, you'll need to estimate the height of the Empire State Building and the thickness of a quarter. Here are key points for your consideration:

  1. Check if you know or can guess the height of the Empire State Building.
  2. Do you know the thickness of a quarter?
  3. Once you've made your estimations, you can calculate how many quarters stacked would equal the height of the Empire State Building.

Remember, it's less about the actual numbers and more about your thought process - how you approach problem-solving and estimation.

Answer Example 1

Well, as I recall, the Empire State Building is around 1,400 feet tall. A quarter is relatively thin, let's say 0.06 inches. But to find out how many quarters would stack up to the Empire State Building's height, I would need the height in inches. So 1,400 feet is 16,800 inches. If I divide that by the thickness of a quarter, I get about 280,000. So, I'd estimate you would need around 280,000 quarters to reach the height of the Empire State Building.

Answer Example 2

Off the top of my head, I think the Empire State Building is approximately 1,500 feet high. Now, if we consider a quarter, it has a thickness of roughly 0.07 inches. In order to make a accurate estimation, I need to convert the height of the Empire State Building from feet to inches, so that would be 18,000 inches. If we now divide that by the thickness of a quarter, we get a result of around 257,142 quarters. Hence, my estimate is that it would take approximately around 257,000 quarters to stack up to the height of the Empire State Building."

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