the.com/estimate
a number wearing a tuxedo, pretending it isn't a guess that showed up nice.
means To form an approximate judgment of a value, size, cost, or number — a calculated guess offered as a working figure.
from From Latin aestimare, "to value, appraise, reckon the worth of," which also gives us "esteem" — a reminder that to estimate something and to hold it in esteem both begin with the act of assigning it value. It entered English in the 1500s, first meaning "to judge the worth of," later sliding toward the numerical reckoning we use today.
- hofstadter's law
- tasks take longer than expected, even counting Hofstadter's Law
- root meaning
- from Latin aestimare, to value or appraise worth
- planning fallacy
- humans chronically underpredict their own task completion times
- engineering trick
- experienced estimators secretly double the number, then add buffer
fermi estimation — enrico fermi's method of solving problems with educated guesses, famous for the "how many piano tuners in chicago?" problem
drake equation — frank drake's 1961 formula estimating the number of communicative civilizations in the milky way