Each

student received one 2.17-ounce bag of skittles candy to count and sort into colors. Each student
counted the total number of candies in one bag and also counted how many candies per color were contained
in the package. Each student then submitted the data to the professor to compile in an excel spreadsheet.
That data was then sent back to the students for analysis. The following charts visually show the breakdown
of candy colors for the entire class and my bag of skittles. In my bag of Skittles, I counted 59 total skittles and
the breakdown of colors is the following data: 8 red candies, 10 orange candies, 11 yellow candies, 14 green
candies and 16 purple candies. There was a total of 12 bags of skittles with 730 total candies.

My Bag of Skittles

Class Bags of Skittles

CLASS SKITTLES COLOR PROPORTION

0.012

0.216 0.190

0.201 0.192

RED ORANGE YELLOW GREEN PURPLE

According to the graphs, the proportion of colors per bag for the class and my personal bag of candy
were very similar except that the red total candy count for the class. I expected to see even proportions but
didnt expect the red colored candies to have the lowest proportion.


The shape of the distributions appears to be skewed right. My data agrees with the data collected by
the whole class because the frequency of candies per bag was between Q1 and Q2. My bag had 59 candies,
which falls right in that class and was also very close to the mean of 60.

Categorical variables are also known as qualitative variables such as the color of Skittles candies.
Quantitative data can be measured such as the number of candies in a bag of Skittles.

Graphing quantitative data is best done with histograms, stem leaf plots, dot plots, bar graphs, and box
plots. All of these types of graphs can be used to measure the quantity of a certain variable. Categorical data is
best graphed using a method that lets you compare the groups to one another. A bar graph can work for both
quantitative and categorical data, but a pie chart doesnt make sense for quantitative data because it is
comparing categories to the whole. A pie chart would effectively show the percentage of each color of skittles
in a bag (categorical data), but cannot effectively be used to show the number of skittles in a bag (quantitative
data).

When it comes to calculations, mean and median only make sense for quantitative data. The mean is
the average quantity of something in an entire sample, so it is a more meaningful calculation for quantitative
data. The median represents the middle value of the data and makes the most sense only when applied to
quantitative data. The best central tendency to apply to categorical data is the mode. When looking at the
colors of candy in a skittles bag, you may not able to find the average color or the median color, but you can
establish which color occurs the most often. Also, when looking at the number of candies in a skittles bag, the
best values for probability distributions are going to be the average and median number of skittles
 Confidence intervals are a range of values with a specified probability that the parameter is within that
range. Confidence intervals are used in statistics to estimate the parameter, the range of value gives a margin
of error, because we cannot be 100% certain. Also, how confident you want to be affects the error. For
example, if you want to be 99% confident the range of number will be larger than if you only want to be 95%
confident.

Construct a 99% confidence interval estimate for the true proportion of yellow candies.

Phat = 140/730 = .1918

x=140
n=730
Z= 2.58

= .0376
Lower Bound = Phat E = .1918 - .0376 = .15425
Upper Bound = Phat + E = .1918 + .0376 = .22931
.15425 < p < .22931
We are 95% confident that the true proportion of yellow candies is between .15425 and .22931.

Construct a 99% confidence interval estimate for the true mean number of candies per bag.

Xbar= 60
S=2.98
n=730
T=2.58

Lower Bound = Xbar T * S/n = 60 - 2.58 * ( 2.98 / 730 ) = 59.783
Upper Bound = Xbar + T * S/n = 60 + 2.58 * ( 2.98 / 730 ) = 60.217
59.783 < sigma < 60.217
We are 99% confident that the true mean number of candies per bag is in between 59.783 and 60.217.

 A hypothesis test determines if the hypothesis, a claim or statistic about a population, is false or could
be valid. You can never prove a hypothesis, you simply fail to reject it. There could always be lurking variables.


Use a .05 significance level to test the claim that 20% of all Skittles candies are red.

Use a .01 significance level to test the claim that the mean number of candies in a bag of skittles is 55.

 The sample of Skittles bags is a simple random sample, because each bag was chosen by chance from a
larger population and each bag has the same probability of being chosen. However, because all the students
that bought a bag of Skittles lives in the same general area, the Skittles in the greater Salt Lake area have a
much greater probability of being chosen than a bag of Skittles in a different state of even a different part of
Utah. This is not a simple random sample of all bags of Skittles, just a simple random sample of bags of Skittles
in the greater Salt Lake area.

Possible errors for the data could be that some people got the wrong size of Skittles bag, either too
small or too large. This would affect the mean number of Skittles in the bag, the proportion of each color of
Skittles in each bag and the standard deviation.

In conclusion, the results show that 15.4-22.9% of all Skittles are yellow and that there are between
59.7-60.2 Skittles in each bag Skittles.

 I feel that I have learned more about proportions, probability, graphs, confidence intervals, and
hypothesis tests from participating in this project. Going to class and doing homework is helpful in learning
new concepts, but when you use the concepts you learn and apply them to a real world situation it makes
them easier to comprehend. Using excel to make different types of graphs and charts, summing, averaging,
finding standard deviation of the different columns and rows will be useful for practical real life situations such
as budgeting. The math skills that I applied to this project will impact the other classes I take during my school
career in many ways. The critical thinking skills I needed for this project will be useful. I learned how to
compare and contrast data and different graphs. This skill will help me be better informed by distinguishing
between deceptive graphs and information. Problem solving skills are essential. I feel that the problem solving
and critical thinking skills I have learned in this class and by doing this project will be helpful in my other
classes. Real world math problems are things we deal with every day. They can be anything from determining
how many miles per gallon of gas your car gets to deciding which product to buy at the store. A project such as
this opens my mind of thinking about real world math problems.