Guesstimate Problem Statement

Estimate the number of golf balls that fit inside a Boeing 747 airplane.

Clarifying Questions

Wondering about the specifics of the statement, I asked the following clarifying questions:

• When we say fit inside a 747, are talking about an empty 747 with no interiors or does it have the standard interiors of a passenger place?
• Do we consider only cabin volume or even fuel storage and cargo space here?

The answers to these questions were:

Assume the Boeing 747 has standard passenger plane interiors (seats, overhead bins, etc.), but no passengers or luggage. This includes both the cabin volume and overhead bins, but not fuel storage areas or mechanical areas.

Ah so it is mainly the cabin space to be considered. As I’m not familiar with planes, I also wondered how large the Boing 747 is. I have been on a domestic flight but have no idea which specific models are used. I chose to clarify further:

• As I’m not sure about the size of the plane, I would assume 500 rows with 2 columns of 3 seats each. Is this a fair assumption or would you like me to change something about it?
• I’m not aware of the size of a golf ball and would estimate it to be around 2 inches in diameter, I hope that’s alright?

The answer was:

Sure you can assume 500 rows and a golf ball of diameter 2 inches.

Thinking on the question

Here was my line of thought:

• I know the size of the plane in terms of number of rows of seats