back-of-the-envelope

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back-of-the-envelope

adj
informal (of a plan, calculation, etc) composed or performed quickly and without detailed analysis or research
[C20: from the notion of something being hastily written on the back of an envelope in the absence of other writing materials ]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
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References in periodicals archive
Based on her back-of-the-envelope calculation, she added, "I would have to see 180 patients in a half-day session by this method in order to generate my salary, and that would just be impossible."
A simple back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that we would need to pay annual installments of $8 billion per year for a total payback over the 20 year period of $160 billion.
So [dynamicist Eric] Mamajek, unsure of what the star's effect on the Oort Cloud might be, did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation. He found that it sits at the border between a star that has a negligible effect and one that can stir up the inner Oort Cloud enough to send comets our way."
A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, overlaying estimates of provincial GDP shares with the latest GDP numbers, helps shed some light on this (provincial income shares are estimated by Dr Hafiz Pasha in a brilliant paper 'Growth of the Provincial Economies - Institute for Policy Reforms').
A "back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests the 3 percentage point increase in VAT resulted in 10.3 percent higher real durable consumption growth," the researchers write.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows the fee would raise about 5 billion euros a year in Germany alone.
Sender and Milo, of the Weizmann Institute, and Fuchs, now at the Hospital for Sick Children, traced the figure to a single back-of-the-envelope calculation in a 1972 paper.
Back-of-the-envelope calculation shows the returns from the APY work out to be seven to eight per cent.
A rough back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that average annual wages are about $35,000 per year.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that a 10 percent relative increase in the SUD treatment rate at an average cost of $1.6 billion yields a crime reduction benefit of $2.5 billion to $4.8 billion.
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