Estimate beans in a jar

How the calculation works

Count ≈ cylinder volume × packing fraction / ellipsoid bean volume. Jar volume = π × (diameter / 2)² × fill height. Bean volume = π × length × width × depth / 6.

Worked example

With inside jar diameter 10 cm, filled height 15 cm, average bean length 1.5 cm, average bean width 0.8 cm, average bean depth 0.6 cm, space occupied by beans 60 %, assumed variation 20 %, estimated beans is 1,875 beans.

Assumptions and limits

Volume estimate only: a cylindrical jar and similarly sized ellipsoid beans. Packing and variation are user assumptions; the displayed range is not a measured confidence interval. No photo analysis is performed.