So you might be wondering why Gregg’s Automotive is posting about measuring a pumpkin without a scale? Gregg’s Automotive wants you to join in the fun this year and enter your guess of how much you think our Great Pumpkin Weighs. Gregg’s Automotive has been continuing this tradition every Halloween since we opened our doors over 20 years ago.
Every year the three people (or couples) who guess the closest to the pumpkins weight win an assortment of prizes ranging from Gas Cards, Restaurant Gift Certificates and more. We do event’s like this to interact with the community and educate them on the importance of proper automotive maintenance and give away cool stuff!
Stay cool and calm and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us at 941-575-8868 or just stop in, we’re always glad to meet you.
Source: BigPumpkins.com
The first measurement we need is the circumference. That is the distance around the fattest part of the pumpkin parallel to the ground. For this we need a soft cloth tape measure. Now, I know what fabric stores are for. Nobody makes clothes these days, they’re too busy growing giant pumpkins so this is the store where we go to buy pumpkin-measuring tools. As you can not see, the circumference is 63 1/4 inches. Be very careful when making measurements, the pumpkins are easily scratched. Who wants a defaced pumpkin or worse yet a fatal infection. See Figure 2 below.
The next 2 measurements are literally over the top (OTT). Do NOT follow the contour of the pumpkin to the ground. One measurement is from the ground straight up to the fattest part of the pumpkin, over the top and straight down to the ground. Do this for the stem end over to the blossom end and then from one side over to the opposite side and down to the ground.
Our champion measures 45″ blossom to stem (BS) and 45 5/8″ side to side (SS).
Now for the easy part. There are 2 methods (equations) for calculating the weight. One is based only on the circumference and the other uses the sum of our OTT measurements. The circumference method is better for day to day comparisons to see how fast the pumpkin is growing while the OTT method yields a better estimate of the real weight.
In our hero’s case, circumference was equal to 63 1/4″ and the OTT equals (63 1/4 + 45 + 45 5/8) 153 7/8″. Only the mathematicians want to know that the weight of the pumpkin is equal to 0.001517*POWER(circumference,2.61374) or 0.0000795*POWER(OTT,2.76) The rest of you want to know how much does it weigh.
Column A will have your circumference (that’s why it is labeled C in cell A3.
Column B will have blossom to stem (BS) and you guessed it column C will have your side to side measurements.
For column D, click in the cell D4 then press the large + key and type SUM(A4:C4) and press enter.
For column E, click in the cell E4 then press the large + key and type 0.0000795*POWER(D4,2.76) and press enter.
For the last column F, click in the cell F4 then press the large + key and type 0.001517*POWER(A4,2.61374) and press enter.
Now, whenever you enter your C, BS, and SS measurements the OTT column will automatically show the sum and the E and F columns will show the calculated weights. (someday this will all be a built-in function on your Pumpkin-Pilot XXIV) You can see by the OTT method our hero weighs 86.6.
236 S. Tamiami Tr.
Punta Gorda, Fl. 33950
941-575-8868
www.greggsauto.net
Auto Repair, A/C Repair, Oil Change, Brake Repair & Transmission Services
Open Mon - Fri 8AM to 5PM
(941) 575-8868 
236 South Tamiami Trail, Punta Gorda, FL 33950