Shortlisted Candidates & Solutions

Please check the shortlisted names below. Before that, here are the answers.

Solution : Research Questions 

1. AiRTH : IIT Bombay incubated startup and Namakwali : supports local artisans and farmers.

2. Journey of Dtu Alumni

3. Ernst & Young(EY) (Medhavi Thakur)

4. Renegades(IIM, Indore)

5. 28 projects 

Solution : Estimating the Number of Trees in DTU

The question for us today is to estimate the number of trees in DTU campus, the very trees we see around ourselves everyday while we across the DTU gardens and from.our hostel balconies. This seems like a mammoth task, but guesstimates help us in solving this problem in minutes.

Guesstimates are logical estimations based on structured thinking and reasonable assumptions rather than precise data. They are widely used in consulting, business analytics, and problem-solving to approximate solutions to complex questions. Whether it’s estimating the number of daily metro passengers or the total coffee cups sold in a city, the ability to break down a problem and make informed assumptions is an essential skill.

Solving a guesstimate follows these key steps:

1. Understand the Question – Identify relevant factors like campus area, green cover, and tree density.

2. Break Down the Problem – Divide the campus into sections (e.g., academic areas, hostels, open grounds) for a more structured analysis.

3. Make Reasonable Assumptions – Use practical knowledge, such as tree density in parks vs. roadsides, to estimate numbers.

4. Apply a Structured Approach – Calculate step by step to reach a final estimate.

5. Verify and Validate – Check if the result aligns with known benchmarks or makes sense in the given context.

APPROACH

The first thing we need to do is to setup a framework which includes asking preliminary questions in reference to our case.

The questions would help us determine what type of trees to include in our count and look for abnormalities in the data set.

After answering these questions and clearing out our sample space, we start creating a strategy. The trick to do that is to divide the campus in regions based on how dense the presence of trees can be. This simplifies our counting as we can estimate the number of trees in each area instead of manually counting them. We can divide them on the basis of land usage and the empty space that is being used for trees. 

Since different areas of the campus serve different purposes, academic blocks and buildings are unlikely to have trees due to unavailability of fertile land and soil in these areas to provide hospitable conditions for them to grow. Similarly, in open areas like parking spots and sports grounds, trees can often act as obstructions and are removed creating flatlands of grass and concrete. For green spaces also, the density of trees is going to be different for light areas and dense areas, as areas near the lake and undeveloped areas are likely to have more tree density than general park areas and hostel areas. 

Therefore, our strategy is to divide, then estimate the density in each area which we multiply by total area and then add all the sums from all the areas to get an estimated total.

Based on this, DTU’s approximately 165-acre campus can be categorized into 50% buildings and departments (82.5 acres), 20% parking and sports ground (33 acres), and 30% green spaces (49.5 acres).

MAKING ASSUMPTIONS:

These are necessary to act as basic truths on which we can build our estimation on. These need to be very reasonable assumptions and help us reach the solution early.

Thus, we can reasonably assume:
A. Tree density in high density areas would be 100 trees per acre.

B. Tree density in low density areas would be 50 trees per acre.

C. Tree density in buildings, parking spots and apartments would be 0 trees per acre.

D. Overall, the 30% of green space in the campus is made up of 40% of high density area and 60% of low density area.

STEP-BY-STEP CALCULATION

First, we divide the campus in three parts:

1. Buildings and Departments: The tree coverage in these areas is taken to be 0 trees per acre because the actual amount is likely to be too minimal to affect our estimate greatly, therefore we get 0 total trees from here.

2. Parking/Sports Ground: These are open areas with even ground and minimal tree coverage confirming our assumption of taking 0 trees per acre in these areas too, thus not affecting our calculation.

3. Green Spaces: To improve our estimate, we tried to be more precise by dividing green spaces in lightly-dense and highly-dense green spaces.

Total green space is of 49.5 acres, out of which 60% comes under light areas, i.e 60%*49.5 acres = 29.5 acres, and 40% comes under dense areas, i.e 40%*49.5 acres = 20 acres

• For Light areas: Area Coverage Tree Density = Total Trees ; 29.5 Acres 50 trees/acre = 1475 trees 

• For dense areas: Area Coverage Tree Density = Total Trees ; 20 Acres 100 trees/acre = 2000 trees 

Total trees = 0 + 0 + 1475 + 2000 = 3475 trees in DTU Campus 

So, based on this structured approach, the number of trees in DTU Campus is likely to be 3475. While this isn’t an exact number, it gives us a logical way to estimate real-world scenarios without having to count every single tree!
This is only our personal approach and there are a number of approaches that can be used to reach different answers.

Below is the list of people shortlisted for the interview round. They will be added to the WhatsApp groups shortly.

Anshul Agrawal - 2026

Isha Jain - 2026

Kanav Pahwa -  2026

Nishchay Chaudhary -2027

Shivam Mittal - 2027

Tanmay Singh Soni - 2027

Anvesha Srivastava - 2027

Lakshay Bhatia - 2027

Vivav Maurya - 2027

WRITERS