Thread: order of magnitude estimating

hi can anyone help me on this question?

estimate how many books can be shelved in a college library with 3500 square meters of floor space. assume 8 shelves high, having books on both sides, with corridors 1.5m wide. assume thickness of the book is 3.0cm and width is 21.7 cm

this is a physics question! pls i need help desperately on this.

thanks alot

Originally Posted by danielwu

hi can anyone help me on this question?

estimate how many books can be shelved in a college library with 3500 square meters of floor space. assume 8 shelves high, having books on both sides, with corridors 1.5m wide. assume thickness of the book is 3.0cm and width is 21.7 cm

this is a physics question! pls i need help desperately on this.

thanks alot

A depth of 0.217*2+1.50 and a width of 0.03m accomodates 16 books,
which gives 16/0.058 books per square metre of floor space. So the total
number books is ~=3500*16/0.058=965517.

RonL

the answer behind my books diff from yours.
the library can store 700,000 books.