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back-of-the-envelope

back-of-the-envelope

2 6.3
Made quickly and simply to give a rough calculation or plan
  • adjective
  • /ˈbæk əv ði ɪnˈvɛlɪp/
translation icon : cálculo rápido
  • In many cases, back-of-the-envelope analysis is all you need to assess a particular real estate opportunity.
  • a back-of-the-envelope calculation

But we can do like a basic, you know, back of the envelope guess of what the variations of this function is.

Examples

  • I am just trying to make a back-of-the-envelope calculation to see if it's even plausible.

    Blog text (1)
  • OK, could we have done, could we figure out a good value for B by doing a back of the envelope calculation?

  • And what I initially did was do back of the envelope assessment of whether I was going to live or not.

  • So this, at least on a back of the envelope calculation, looks pretty good.

  • So this is just a back-of-the-envelope figure.

    Blog text (10)
  • No, by my back-of-the-envelope calculations, it exceeded design limits by about 20%.

    Blog text (20)
  • That's a back-of-the-envelope estimate at this point, not detailed analysis.

    Blog text (11)
  • Using this, we can make a back-of-the-envelope calculation of the second parameter in the equation.

    Blog text (9)
  • A back-of-the-envelope calculation gives some indication of a relevant time scale for the terrestrial nitrogen deposition problem.

    Academic text (1994)
  • To estimate the project's cost quickly, we can use a back-of-the-envelope calculation based on similar projects.

Synonyms

rough
vsback-of-the-envelope
122 2.8

Not exact, only a simple first idea

is used specifically for quick informal calculations and plans
off-the-cuff
vsback-of-the-envelope
3 7.2

Said or done without planning beforehand

is done quickly but may still use brief informal calculation
seat-of-the-pants
vsback-of-the-envelope
  • Informal
1 8.5

Acting on instinct rather than careful planning

relies on quick informal reasoning rather than pure instinct

Antonyms

A careful study that looks at all parts of something

How Detailed

detailed
353 3.7
preliminary
325 5.2
back-of-the-envelope
2 6.3
sketchy
33 7.0
quickie
  • Informal
26 7.3

Surface Forms

Morphology

back-of-the-envelope = back + the + envelope (semi-transparent) = of + back + the + envelope

The phrase is made of literal words, but its idiomatic meaning 'a quick, informal calculation' is not fully predictable from the components for an average learner. [Postprocessing: moved 'of' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

The word back-of-the-envelope comes from people quickly writing numbers or ideas on the back of an envelope when they had no other paper. That's why it now means a 'quick', 'informal' and 'rough' calculation or plan.