GUESSTIMATE COMPETITION ANSWERS

Question 1) Guesstimate the amount of French fries sold by McDonald's in a

year in India.

Answer –

The total number of McDonalds outlets in the world is 39198.

The total per day global sales of French fries is 40,00,000 kgs.

Therefore, the total per day per outlet sale of French fries will be 40,00,000
kgs/39198 = 102.05 kgs approx.

The total number of McDonalds outlets in India is 304.

Therefore, total per day sale of French fries in India will be 102.05 kgs*304 =
31,022 kgs.
Hence, the total amount of French fries sold by McDonald’s in a year in India is
31,022 kgs*365days = 1,13,23,030 kgs or 11,323.03 tonnes.

Question 2) - Guesstimate how many litres of gasoline a typical filling station

pumps each week in India?

Answer – Let’s assume the following :-

Less frequency hours is between 6am to 8am (people generally start going out either
for office, college or work after 8), 12 am to 2pm (is lunch hour because of which
frequency of cars on the road reduces), and 9pm to 12 pm (office hours end by 8 pm
max and people are almost home by 9 pm)
Hence, Total less frequency hours is equal to 7 hrs.

High frequency hours is between 8 am to 12 pm and 2pm to 9 pm (these are the

rush hours and frequency of cars on the road is the highest)
Hence, Total high frequency hours is equal to 11 hrs.

Least frequency hours is from 12 am to 6 am (given that most of the people are
sleeping and only a few cars are on the road)
Hence, Total least frequency hours is equal to 6 hrs.
Let the average frequency of cars be - 1 car in every 20 minutes for less frequency
hours, 1 car every 10 mins for high frequency hours and 1 car every hour during least
frequency hours.

Therefore,
During less frequency hours’ total number of cars getting gasoline pumped is 3
cars/hour * 7 hrs = 21 cars

During high frequency hours’ total number of cars getting gasoline pumped is 6
cars/hour * 11 hrs = 66 cars

During least frequency hours’ total number of cars getting gasoline pumped is 1
car/hour * 6 hrs = 6 cars

Total number of cars getting gasoline pumped in a day is 93 cars.

The average fuel tank capacity of an average car is approx. 40 litres.

Total gasoline pumped by a typical filling station in India in a day is 93 cars*40 litres
of gasoline = 3,720 litres.

Hence, Total gasoline pumped by a typical filling station in India in a week is 3,720
litres*7 = 26,040 litres of gasoline.

Question 3) Guesstimate the number of volleyballs sold in a year in India?

Answer – Let’s assume the following :-

Volleyball in India is not a very popular sport. But every school, college and university
be rural or urban, government or private must own on an average 2 volleyballs which
has a lifespan of 6 months, so the volleyball requirement of an institution in a year will
be 4 volleyballs.

There are 14,94,052 schools, 993 universities, 10,725 standalone institutions and
39,931 colleges in India.

Therefore, total educational institutions in India is 15,45,701.

Number of volleyballs required by these institutions in a year is 15,45,701
institutions*4 volleyballs = 61,82,804 volleyballs.

Assuming, every state and UT has a volleyball team, therefore there are 36 teams.
The requirement of a state volleyball team will be on an average 4 volleyballs with an
average life span of 30 days.

Therefore, volleyball requirements by 36 state teams in a year is 4 volleyballs*12

months*36 teams = 1,728 volleyballs.

Say, the National team requires on an average 4 volleyballs with a life span of 10
days.
Therefore, volleyball requirement by the National team in a year is 4 volleyballs*36
(no. of times new volleyballs are purchased in a year) = 144 volleyballs.

Hence, Total number of volleyballs sold in a year in India is 61,84,676 volleyballs.