WHERE:Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture
Note: the meetup location has not changed. The National Portrait Gallery shares the Old Patent Office Building with the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the text of the announcement has been updated to use the official name for the location.
We will be meeting in the Kogod Courtyard of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture (8th and F Sts or 8th and G Sts NW, go straight past the information desk from either entrance) to practice making order-of-magnitude estimates to answer questions. As usual, we will congregate between 3:00 and 3:30.
A Fermi estimate is a particular style of back-of-the-envelope calculation where one calculates an approximate answer to one's question by multiplying and dividing a series of related estimates. For example, at a late-2013 Fermi estimate meetup, the group calculated a good estimate of the total length of the U.S. road network by taking (the width of the continental U.S.) times (the number of roads one would cross per mile traveling that width) times (the height of the continental U.S.). As a rule, a satisfactory Fermi estimate should be correct to within a factor of ten.
Anyone who would like to contribute problems for the group is welcome to do so - thank you. For practice purposes, precisely stated questions about mudane subjects with accurately-known answers (in the above example, "the number of center-lane miles of road in the United States in 2011") are ideal.
As always, anyone not interested in the official topic is allowed and encouraged to start side conversations.
According to WMATA, there will be 20-24 minute gaps between trains except on the Red Line towards Shady Grove. The Verizon Center has no events scheduled for the 18th.
Upcoming meetups:
Feb. 1: Performance of Masculinity discussion (read and discuss a pair of articles about male gender roles in U.S.)
Feb. 8: Fun & Games (bring games, play games, converse, socialize, or any combination thereof)
Feb. 15: Book Swap (lend books, borrow books, talk about books)
Discussion article for the meetup : Washington, D.C.: Fermi Estimates
WHEN: 25 January 2015 03:00:00PM (-0500)
WHERE: Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture
Note: the meetup location has not changed. The National Portrait Gallery shares the Old Patent Office Building with the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the text of the announcement has been updated to use the official name for the location.
We will be meeting in the Kogod Courtyard of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture (8th and F Sts or 8th and G Sts NW, go straight past the information desk from either entrance) to practice making order-of-magnitude estimates to answer questions. As usual, we will congregate between 3:00 and 3:30.
A Fermi estimate is a particular style of back-of-the-envelope calculation where one calculates an approximate answer to one's question by multiplying and dividing a series of related estimates. For example, at a late-2013 Fermi estimate meetup, the group calculated a good estimate of the total length of the U.S. road network by taking (the width of the continental U.S.) times (the number of roads one would cross per mile traveling that width) times (the height of the continental U.S.). As a rule, a satisfactory Fermi estimate should be correct to within a factor of ten.
Anyone who would like to contribute problems for the group is welcome to do so - thank you. For practice purposes, precisely stated questions about mudane subjects with accurately-known answers (in the above example, "the number of center-lane miles of road in the United States in 2011") are ideal.
As always, anyone not interested in the official topic is allowed and encouraged to start side conversations.
According to WMATA, there will be 20-24 minute gaps between trains except on the Red Line towards Shady Grove. The Verizon Center has no events scheduled for the 18th.
Upcoming meetups:
Discussion article for the meetup : Washington, D.C.: Fermi Estimates