I froze for a second because I wasn't sure whether to anchor on households or population.
Break the problem into a demand-side estimation: first estimate the number of children who trick-or-treat in the city, then estimate the average number of pieces each child collects. Use a clear, logical structure and state your assumptions explicitly, rounding numbers to make calculations easy.
Pro tip: Show that you can sanity-check your answer by comparing it to a known reference (e.g., total US candy sales on Halloween) and adjust for your city's population; this demonstrates business intuition and prevents wildly off estimates.
Define the city, the time period (Halloween night), and what counts as 'distributed' (e.g., given to trick-or-treaters, not including candy bought but not handed out).
Start with the city's population, estimate the proportion that are children aged 5-14, and then estimate the participation rate (e.g., 50-70% go trick-or-treating).
Estimate the average number of houses visited and the average pieces per house, or directly estimate the total pieces per child (e.g., 50-100 pieces).
Multiply the number of trick-or-treaters by the average pieces per child to get total pieces. Compare with known benchmarks (e.g., national candy sales) to validate.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.