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Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: September 13th, 2018, 1:57 pm
by Unome
Name wrote:UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F wrote:Name wrote:
I mean the sites a good place to start, but using invite tests or tests here in the test exchange would probably be a better way to study once you understand the basics
Looks like I'm doomed.
But seriously, is there a better use of time than looking at Wikipedia order of magnitude pages? How'd you guys start out?
I initially started with the Fermi site (rip), and kinda studied together with someone who had a better understanding and could explain a few things that I didn't get. When I got some Fermi tests, I took them, and you should find out what you did wrong and figure out how to get the correct answers (with a calculator and google basically just to understand the process of it) and memorize the information you didn't know. Just keep taking tests and note what you did wrong so next time you (hopefully) won't make the same mistake
Multiple thousands of test questions is the way to go.
Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: September 13th, 2018, 3:17 pm
by TheChiScientist
Unome wrote:Name wrote:UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F wrote:
Looks like I'm doomed.
But seriously, is there a better use of time than looking at Wikipedia order of magnitude pages? How'd you guys start out?
I initially started with the Fermi site (rip), and kinda studied together with someone who had a better understanding and could explain a few things that I didn't get. When I got some Fermi tests, I took them, and you should find out what you did wrong and figure out how to get the correct answers (with a calculator and google basically just to understand the process of it) and memorize the information you didn't know. Just keep taking tests and note what you did wrong so next time you (hopefully) won't make the same mistake
Multiple thousands of test questions is the way to go.
^This is what you do. I would start off by studying the powers (Billion, Trillion etc.) and from there study common facts such as the mass of the sun, values of lightyears, milliseconds etc.
Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: September 20th, 2018, 2:43 pm
by Jacobi
TheChiScientist wrote:Unome wrote:Name wrote:
I initially started with the Fermi site (rip), and kinda studied together with someone who had a better understanding and could explain a few things that I didn't get. When I got some Fermi tests, I took them, and you should find out what you did wrong and figure out how to get the correct answers (with a calculator and google basically just to understand the process of it) and memorize the information you didn't know. Just keep taking tests and note what you did wrong so next time you (hopefully) won't make the same mistake
Multiple thousands of test questions is the way to go.
^This is what you do. I would start off by studying the powers (Billion, Trillion etc.) and from there study common facts such as the mass of the sun, values of lightyears, milliseconds etc.
Quizlet Rocks!
https://quizlet.com/263146210/science-o ... ash-cards/
https://quizlet.com/245983974/fermi-que ... ash-cards/
Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: September 20th, 2018, 5:07 pm
by John Richardsim
Heyo! Thanks for reminding me. Here are a couple of sets that I put together last year:
Logs and constants
Random values and stuff
(fair warning on the second set there: I wasn't very consistent on putting stuff in exponential form and a few things are very Michigan-specific)
Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: September 20th, 2018, 7:04 pm
by jlordhe
I can confirm that the site no longer works and I'm probably going to do Fermi Questions
Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: September 23rd, 2018, 10:23 am
by Jacobi
Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: September 23rd, 2018, 1:44 pm
by Unome
For logs, I would recommend knowing 3 digits. I would also recommend knowing pi and e, since those do come up.
Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: September 24th, 2018, 8:40 am
by Jacobi
Unome wrote:
For logs, I would recommend knowing 3 digits. I would also recommend knowing pi and e, since those do come up.
I usually approximate both of those with 3, and then go up or down a few as I feel.
Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: October 12th, 2018, 9:54 pm
by acidbeaker
What are some common conversions/weird units I should know, as someone new to this event?
Re: Fermi Questions C
Posted: October 12th, 2018, 11:47 pm
by John Richardsim
acidbeaker wrote:What are some common conversions/weird units I should know, as someone new to this event?
Here's a document I made last year:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JyUMav ... sp=sharing