Steps to Answer Guesstimate Questions

Step 1: Understand the Question

Begin by making sure you fully grasp what the question is asking. If something is unclear, ask the
interviewer for clarification. Don't ask for specific numerical answers; instead, seek yes-or-no type
clarifications.

Step 2: Break Down the Problem

Divide the problem into smaller, manageable parts. Aim for about 4-6 steps to reach the final answer.
Clearly understand the scenario and structure your approach to solve it. Use whole numbers or easy
fractions for calculations, avoiding complexity.

Step 3: Determine Your Approach

Plan out your approach before diving into calculations. Ensure your method is clear and logical. Assign
reasonable proportions for each segment based on your strategy. Keep communicating your thought
process to the interviewer and seek their feedback.

Step 4: Start Solving

Once you've figured out your approach, start calculating. Avoid silent calculations; instead, talk through
your process and ask for feedback. Stay on track with your strategy, ensuring proportions are
manageable and logical.

Step 5: Double-Check and Finalize

After you've completed the calculations, review them for accuracy. Ensure everything adds up correctly.
Don't worry if your final answer isn't a precise match; focus on the process and a logical final estimation.

By following these steps, you'll approach guesstimation problems systematically, making it easier to
reach a reasonable and well-structured answer.
5 Most Common Guesstimate Interview Questions & Answers

1. Calculate the number of queries answered by Google per second.

Analysis: We'll do a top-down approach.

Global Population = say, 7.5B

Less, Geographies excluded: China, Half of Russia (people here don't use Google as their primary search
engine); Less 1.5B (remaining 6B)

Less, Only 50% of people are connected to the internet (remaining 3B)

Less, Google market share with Bing, AOL, and other regional engines: Let's assume it to be about 70-
80% = 75% (remaining 2.25B)

We are left with 2.2B people who are potentially using Google search as their primary search.

Usage Frequency

We can segment them in their frequency of usage. I would say there are 3 types of searchers:
Aggressive, Active, Passive

Passive searchers are those who don't really use the internet to search on a daily basis (like old people,
kids, our moms/dads, majority of the rural population). Assuming this type represents the majority =
50% = 1.1B people

Active people would search once a day. Assumed to be 25% of the population = 550M people

Aggressive searchers are super active searchers who might search 4-8 times a day. Assumed to be 25%
of the total population = 550M people

Total searches per day= 550*1 + 550*6 = 3.8B searches per day

= 3.8B / 24 hours / 60 min / 60 sec = ~ 44,000 searches per second

2. How many iPhone users are there in India at present?

Ans. Suppose, we are considering all models of the iPhone.

There are 1.40 billion Indians.

Out of which, 40% of the population includes children and senior citizens. This means that children and
senior citizens will be excluded which leaves us with 840 million people that can own an iPhone.

Now, out of all these people, we will consider the upper-class and upper-middle class who can own an
iPhone. For this, we will exclude the lower middle class, which is around 14%.

This brings the probable number to 722 million. As per the statistics, the market share of the iPhone is
6%. This means there can be approx 43 million possible iPhone users in India.
3. How many elevators are required in a building of 16 floors?

Let's assume people do not wait for a lift for more than 5 minutes.

Questions and Answers to arrive at the solutions:

Q1: What is the total population of the building?

Answer: 500 People

Q2: What is the population of working people, children going to school/college, morning workout
people?

Answer: 70% of the population = 350 people

Q3: Let's define peak hours: Morning 7 to 9 AM and evening 5 to 7 PM.

Assumption #1: No. of people who required a lift would be 350.

Q4: What is the lift capacity?

Answer: let's take 10 people on a single ride.

Q5: What is the max lift open and close each floor?

Answer: Open: 5 secs and closed time: 15 secs. = 15 secs

Q6: What is the total time takes of the lift to complete one ride with 15 seconds waiting time on each
floor?

Answer: 320 ((5*16) + (15*16))secs= 5.33 mins for easier calculation let's take it as 5 mins

Q7: Considering no wait time

The required lift would be: Population at peak time/total number of people per ride = 350/10 = 35 lift if
we had then no one need to wait.

But however, let's assume one given point of time maximum we would have 100 people need to lift; not
all 350 come at a single time; so that comes to 100/10 = 10 lifts.

and if people are ready to wait for 10 mins then we need only 5 lifts for the residential building.

4. Number of WhatsApp Chats occurring in India

Estimating WhatsApp Chats in India on a Daily Basis

To estimate the number of WhatsApp chats occurring in India on a per-day basis, we need to consider
the number of WhatsApp users in India and their chat activity across different age groups and usage
levels.

Step 1: Determine the Number of WhatsApp Users in India

Let's calculate the approximate number of WhatsApp users in India using the given parameters:
Total population of India: 1.3 billion
Internet penetration: 50%
Percentage of smartphone users: 60%
Percentage of users using WhatsApp: 80%

Approximate number of WhatsApp users in India:

= 1.3 billion * 0.5 * 0.6 * 0.8
= 300 million (approx.)

Step 2: Divide WhatsApp Users by Age Groups and Usage Levels

We'll categorize WhatsApp users into different age groups and usage levels:

Age groups: 10-24, 25-35, 36-50, 51-65 years old

Usage levels: Heavy, Medium, Low
Step 3: Calculate WhatsApp Messages Sent per Day

Now, let's estimate the number of WhatsApp messages sent per day by different age groups and their
respective usage levels:

For the age group 10-24 years old:

Heavy usage: 70% of 150 million WhatsApp users

Medium usage: 20% of 150 million WhatsApp users
Low usage: 10% of 150 million WhatsApp users
Total messages sent by this age group per day = 70% * 150 million + 20% * 150 million + 10% * 150
million
Similarly, calculate messages sent for the other age groups (25-35, 36-50, 51-65 years old) based on
their respective usage levels.

Step 4: Total WhatsApp Messages Sent per Day in India

Now, let's calculate the total number of WhatsApp messages sent per day in India by summing up the
messages sent by different age groups and their respective usage levels:

Total WhatsApp messages sent per day in India:

= Total messages sent by 10-24 years old + Total messages sent by 25-35 years old + Total messages sent
by 36-50 years old + Total messages sent by 51-65 years old

= 12,111 million or approximately 12.11 billion WhatsApp messages sent per day in India.

5. Calculate the no of ATMs in India.

The population of India - 1.3 Billion

Assumption - Let the Rural: Urban split be 70: 30 % of the total population.

Population Split -

Therefore, the population split approximately comes to,

Rural = 900 Million

Urban = 400 Million

Household Split -

Next, we will calculate the number of Households in India,

Assuming, there are 4 people in a household for both urban and rural,

(Ideally, we would assume, 3 for Urban and 5 for Rural)

Household split comes to,

Rural = (900 Million / 4) = 230 Million

Urban = (400 Million / 4) = 100 Million

Total number of ATM cardholders in India -

Next, let’s estimate the total number of ATM cardholders in India,

Assuming,

 70% of Rural household has ATM cards and,

 90% of Urban Households has ATM cards

This comes down to, (70% of 230 Million)

= 160 Million ATM cards in Rural and (90% of 100 Million)

= 90 Million ATM cards in Urban.

Now, let’s assume -

In Urban, let say 10% of household has 2 ATMs and rest of the 90% has 1 ATM,

= (10% * 90M)*2 + (90% * 90M)*1= 18 + 81 M = ~ 100M ATM users

In Rural, let say 100% of household has 1 ATMs,

= (100% * 160M)*1 = 160 M ATM users

Now Assuming,

1 ATM is mapped to ~500 users in the Urban area, & ~2000 users in Rural area

Total number of ATMs in Urban + Rural India =

= 100M/500 + 160M/2000

= 2,00,000 + 80,000

= 2,80,000 ATMs are there in India.

The actual number of ATMs in India is around ~2,40,000