Estimate total pollution created by vehicles passing through a busy roundabout in a day.

approaching a case Case case guesstimation Guesstimate
Recent activity on Jan 24, 2019
3 Answers
2.4 k Views
Harsh asked on Jan 23, 2019

Overview of answers

Upvotes
  • Upvotes
  • Date ascending
  • Date descending
Best answer
Sidi
Expert
updated an answer on Jan 23, 2019
McKinsey Senior EM & BCG Consultant | Interviewer at McK & BCG for 7 years | Coached 350+ candidates secure MBB offers

Pragmatic approach:

1. Segment into types of vehicles

2. Estimate pollution intensity per vehicle type (e.g., if it takes 30 seconds to pass the roundabout on average, what is the pollution per 30 secons?)

3. Estimate number of vehicels for each type per time of the day (rush hours vs non-rush hours)

4. Multiply sum of 3. with 2. for each type and sum up

Cheers, Sidi

(edited)

Was this answer helpful?
Anonymous replied on Jan 24, 2019

Another approach:

1. Clarify what constitutes "passing through" and "busy". Let's define "passing through" as cars on the circle itself (not cars waiting to enter the circle). Let's define "busy" as a roundabout that constantly has cars on it. Defined thus, it doesn't matter whether it's rush hour or not, since the density of traffic won't change.

2. Clarify the time-frame -- reasonably, a day = 9am - 9pm.

3. Clarify a) the length of the roundabout circle to determine how many cars can drive on it at once; b) the average length of a car; c) the average distance between cars driving on it -- then you can determine the number of cars driving on the roundabout

4. Make a reasonable assumption about average car emissions (segmenting more / less depending on the theoretical precision you want or think the interviewer wants)...and note your units in terms of emissions/distance or emissions/time (emissions/hr would be consistent with #2, our timeframe)

5. Answer should be #2 * #3 * #4

Was this answer helpful?
2
Vlad
Expert
replied on Jan 23, 2019
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

Would be good if you come up with your ideas first.

Think about calculating the number of different types of the cars in the streets (Hint - it's always easier to start with non-commercial segment)

Best

Was this answer helpful?
Sidi gave the best answer

Sidi

McKinsey Senior EM & BCG Consultant | Interviewer at McK & BCG for 7 years | Coached 350+ candidates secure MBB offers
429
Meetings
5,799
Q&A Upvotes
78
Awards
5.0
134 Reviews
How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or fellow student?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0 = Not likely
10 = Very likely