Fermi question · Geography

About how many square kilometers is the total area of Alaska?

Make a fast, defensible estimate before you reveal the reference answer. Think in factors, not exact recall.

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square kilometers

Use a positive number. Commas and scientific notation are okay.

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Reference answer

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≈ 1.72 million square kilometers

Fermi estimates are judged by scale, so a reasonable approximation can still earn a strong score.

One way to estimate it

Convert Alaska’s roughly 665,000 square miles into square kilometers.

  1. Alaska total area≈ 665,000 mi²
  2. Square-kilometer conversion≈ 2.59 km² per mi²
  3. Estimate665,000 × 2.59 ≈ 1.72M km²

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