How to Measure Anything Workbook: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business

CHAPTER 2 An Intuitive Measurement Habit: Eratosthenes, Enrico, and Emily

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain how three “measurement mentors” solved what might seem like complex measurement problems.
• Explain what lessons these measurement mentors teach us about measurement in general.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Throughout human history, there have always been people who were able to come up with intuitive measurement solutions to challenging problems. Chapter NaN takes a look at three such individuals who can serve as role models for us. Using a couple of simple observations and some basic geometry, Eratosthenes made a surprisingly accurate estimate of the circumference of Earth in the second century B.C. Nobel Prize–winning physicist Enrico Fermi taught his students to estimate the number of piano tuners in Chicago, and once measured the energy of an atomic bomb explosion using confetti. Finally, Emily Rosa teaches us that we need not be scientists, mathematicians, or even high school graduates to make clever measurements—she used a simple experiment to debunk paranormal claims and got her work published at the age of nine.

QUESTIONS

1. Which of the following is true of Eratosthenes’s measurement of Earth’s circumference?
   1. It is an ideal example in which a simple measurement was made using readily available information.
   2. It would not qualify as a true measurement by today’s standards.
   3. It required a basic insight about Newtonian mechanics.
   4. It demonstrated the effectiveness of controlled ...