American Express: Which Of These Pieces Of Information Would Be Useful In Estimating The Number Of People Who Work In A 30-Storey Building?

a. Number of Cars in the Parking Lot

b. The Number of People Eating Lunch in the Cafeteria

c. The Number of People in the 11th Floor

Manager-Strategic Analysis and Testing hopefuls at American Express were asked to answer this question, as recently as June 2013.

None of these three options give adequate information for estimating the number of people working in a particular building. Additional information with regard to whether the building is located in a suburban or an urban area might help you to make a guess as to how many people might take a public transport or drive and thereby come to a conclusion. Your best bet would be the third option, which gives you a rough figure to come up with the density of the people working in the building.    

The key here is to back your answer with appropriate reasons, while following the process of elimination.

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