Recently, I read a really amusing order of magnitude
estimation.
Forbes Magazine for 03/24/97 (the one with the two fighting babies on the
cover) has an article by Nina Muck called Think Fast. It tells about some
of the questions interviewers ask today when hiring people. One of the
questions asked by interviewers at Mckinsey & Co. is
"How many barbers are there in Chicago"
One of my students brought this article to my attention as we have "back
of the envelope"/Fermi questions every other week or so.
Another question was
"How long would it take you to move Mt. Fuji?"
The article has a number of estimation type questions listed.
Towards the end of the article they talk about the recruiting practices at
Anderson Consulting. They used to place a lot of emphasis on academic
performance. In 1992 they found that their top 1000 consultants did not
have the strongest academic records. They now place little emphasis on
grades and test scores when recruiting.