The 29 March 2010 edition of "MIT news" carries a report "Rough
calculations: Sanjoy Mahajan's (2010) new book, Street-Fighting
Mathematics, lays out practical tools for educated guessing and
down-and-dirty problem-solving" [Dizikes (2010)], accessible by
clicking on
<http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/street-fight-0329.html> and/or
<http://tinyurl.com/y9dcsw8>.
"There is a kind of power over the theoretical and experimental
studies in which [the prospective physics graduate student] is
engaged which is difficult to define, but whose presence is perhaps
more important than the knowledge which is more formal and complete.
There is one test of such power which is at the same time a
remarkably apt method for its development. The method was the common
and frequently amusing practice of Enrico Fermi, perhaps the most
widely creative physicist of our times. Fermi delighted to think up
and a once to discuss and answer questions which drew upon everyday
experience, and upon the ability to make rough approximations,
inspired guesses, and statistical estimates from very little data. A
few samples are indispensable: How much does a watch gain or lose
when carried up a mountain? How many piano tuners are there in the
city of Chicago?"
Phil Morrison (1963)