Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
9,800,000
crayons
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
Start with the pitch. 105 by 68 meters is about 7,000 square meters. How big is a crayon lying flat? Maybe 10 cm long and 1 cm wide, so 1,000 of them fill a square meter.
- The pitch, 105 × 68 m
- ≈ 7,000 m²
- Crayons in a square meter
- ≈ 1,000
- 7,000 × 1,000
- ≈ 7,000,000
Start with the pitch. 115 by 74 yards is about 8,500 square yards. How big is a crayon lying flat? Maybe 4 inches by a quarter inch, so 1 square inch, and a square yard holds about 1,300 of those.
- The pitch, 115 × 74 yd
- ≈ 8,500 sq yd
- Crayons in a square yard
- ≈ 1,300
- 8,500 × 1,300
- ≈ 11,000,000
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- One crayon, 3 5/8 by 5/16 in
- ≈ 731 mm²
- FIFA pitch, 105 × 68 m
- 7,140 m²
- 7,140 m² ÷ 731 mm²
- ≈ 9,800,000
Reference cited by Fermi: Crayola: regular crayon 3 5/8 by 5/16 in. FIFA Stadium Guidelines: pitch 105 by 68 m
How close was your guess?
Your comparison will appear here.
Compare by ratio: divide the larger number by the smaller one. The closer to 1×, the better.