Goldilocks and decision-making

The physics of decision-making

Quick!

The Ledge

You've just heard about "The Ledge" at Chicago's Willis (Sears) Tower and you decide you've got to go...maybe right after class! But you want to get back in time to eat at the 'Rott at 5 PM.

Can you make it there and back in time???

Did you use information about from your own experience? Anything about the *time* or the *distance* to Chicago?

[image: view from "the Ledge" in Chicago's Willis tower.]

The process of decision making

...frequently involves:

  • Making a 'rough' estimate of something, such as driving time to Chicago and back,
  • In the right units,
  • in order to make a comparison, e.g. time available vs driving time,

  • which falls into one of the Goldilocks categories (see the book 'Guesstimation'):
    • too hot (too large),
    • too cold (too small), or
    • just about right.

Is an exact answer necessary?

Frequently an order of magnitude is good enough