back-of-the-envelope
adjective
: done quickly to provide a rough estimate : not exact
did a back-of-the-envelope calculation
His method is, in effect, a back-of-the-envelope time-and-motion study.—
Ian Stewart
Ian StewartExamples of back-of-the-envelope in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Maybe the dollars don’t line up as cleanly for the Big Ten Network as our back-of-the-envelope math suggests.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 17 July 2024
The problem with this kind of back-of-the-envelope math is that Musk’s assumptions can be off by orders of magnitude.
—Phil Wahba, Fortune, 3 July 2024
To get a sense of just how big the gains that Collier brushes aside are, consider the following back-of-the-envelope calculation.
—Justin Sandefur, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2013
Based on our back-of-the-envelope math, that should total about $2 million per school over a decade.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 31 May 2024
And that back-of-the-envelope calculation may be an underestimate.
—Topher L. McDougal, The Conversation, 20 May 2024
Clark did some back-of-the-envelope calculations and estimated that a 10^25 FLOPS model costs about $7 million to train on the latest GPU hardware, while a 10^26 FLOPS model costs about $70 million to train.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024
My back-of-the-envelope judgments are: Probably not, and probably not.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2024
If the beak-size changes the Grants observed continued over millennia, back-of-the-envelope calculations predicted some extreme phenomena, Pennell said.
—Quanta Magazine, 2 Jan. 2024
Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 17 July 2024
The problem with this kind of back-of-the-envelope math is that Musk’s assumptions can be off by orders of magnitude.
—Phil Wahba, Fortune, 3 July 2024
To get a sense of just how big the gains that Collier brushes aside are, consider the following back-of-the-envelope calculation.
—Justin Sandefur, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2013
Based on our back-of-the-envelope math, that should total about $2 million per school over a decade.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 31 May 2024
And that back-of-the-envelope calculation may be an underestimate.
—Topher L. McDougal, The Conversation, 20 May 2024
Clark did some back-of-the-envelope calculations and estimated that a 10^25 FLOPS model costs about $7 million to train on the latest GPU hardware, while a 10^26 FLOPS model costs about $70 million to train.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024
My back-of-the-envelope judgments are: Probably not, and probably not.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2024
If the beak-size changes the Grants observed continued over millennia, back-of-the-envelope calculations predicted some extreme phenomena, Pennell said.
—Quanta Magazine, 2 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'back-of-the-envelope.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near back-of-the-envelope
Cite this Entry
“Back-of-the-envelope.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/back-of-the-envelope. Accessed 26 Jul. 2024.
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