Guillermo Velasquez

Math 1040

Skittles and Statistics

In my statistics class we are gathering information from 49 bags of Skittles. We

using concepts that we are studying in class. The topics are organizing and analyzing

data, drawing conclusions using confidence intervals and hypothesis tests.

Organizing and Displaying Categorical Data: Colors

The following pie chart shows the colors and proportions of all the Skittles in the
class data.

I noticed in my bag I had the least amount of red skittles than anyone other color.

The rest of the other colors in my bag roughly averaged out with what the class had
 Guillermo Velasquez
Math 1040

gotten. I thought the skittles colors would be evenly distributed all around in each bag

sold but i was mistaken. Overall the average number of skittles bags per person was

roughly about the same.

My Bag: Red: 6 Orange: 9 Yellow: 15 Green: 14 Purple: 14 Total: 58

Class Average: Red: 525 Orange: 555 Yellow: 609 Green: 608 Purple: 651 Total: 2948

Organizing and Displaying Quantitative Data: The Number of Candies Per Bag

Total Number of candies in my Skittles bag was 58

Total number of bag in the sample collected by the entire class was 49
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Math 1040

The Mean for candies per bag 60.1%

The Standard Deviation per bag 2.07%

5- Number summary:

min 55
Q1 59
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Math 1040

median 60
Q3 62
Max 65

Looking at the histogram it looks bell shaped making it a normal distribution for Skittles

for each bag. The graphs showed what I expected to see with the overall class average. Taking

look at the box plot the mean is 60 for the class average, in my bag of Skittles 58 meaning I fell

in the normal range with the class average of 60

In the first half of our Skittles project we looked at categorical(qualitative data)

and quantitative data. Qualitative data is numerical data that we can’t actually count and

get a number. For this type of information we would rather best off using the pie charts

and pareto chart because it will help us see how the colors in the Skittles bag get

disturbed. Box plots and histograms would not work in this case because they are both
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Math 1040

quantitative data. Quantitative data is information that we can measure numerically and

accurately. For this type of information box plots and histogram works because we are

using numerical data, compared to the pie chart and pareto this would not work

because those two chart we use for categorical data only not quantitative.

Confidence Interval Estimates

The purpose of confidence interval (CI’s) is taking random samples from data or

population and getting a statistic, like mean sample from a random set of data to

calculate the mean population. A confidence interval solves the issue of providing a

range in which the values are likely to be in

99% confidence interval of yellow skittles

Confidence interval estimate it from a population proportion are used to

determine, the proportion of a characteristic found within a population. In relation to my

skittles project, I 99% confident the proportion of yellow skittles any bag of skittles falls

between (0.188, 0.226)

95% confidence interval true mean number of candies per bag.

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Math 1040

Confidence interval estimate it from a population proportion are used to

determine, the proportion of a characteristic found within a population. In relation to my

skittles project, I 95% confident the proportion of yellow skittles any bag of skittles falls

between (59.5,60.7)

98% confidence interval for the standard deviation of the number of

candies per bag.

Confidence interval estimate it from a population proportion are used to

determine, the proportion of a characteristic found within a population. In relation to my

skittles project, I 99% confident the proportion of yellow skittles any bag of skittles falls

between (1.64, 2.63)

 Guillermo Velasquez
Math 1040

Hypothesis Tests

A hypothesis test determines if the hypothesis, a claim , is valid or could be false.

You can never prove a hypothesis, you simply fail to reject it, kinda like being incident

until proven guilty.

Use a 0.05 significance level to test the claim that 20% of all Skittles candies are

red.
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Math 1040

Use a 0.01 significance level to test the claim that the mean number of candies in

a bag of Skittles is 55.

Reflection
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Math 1040

A hypothesis test must be able to be true or false, as well testable. Possible

errors that would be made using data is not having enough data or using the wrong data

for your calculations. To improve the testing I would recommend getting a better sample

size but that does take time and money. Over all doing this project I am can say for

each skittles bag Mars Candy Corporation sells is fairly distributed to the best of their

abilities on a few occasions they will get a couple that are off but the majority of the

Skittles bags are fair and balanced out for consumers to enjoy.

Reflective Writing and e-Portfolio

Taking statistics is a real eye opener, there are many things I learned from this

project and the class that I will apply to my schooling career but as well as my future

career of becoming a physician. We take math for granted as a student I always asked

my “when will I ever use this in my career”, but with statistics there is a lot of things I

learned that I will apply on a daily basis.

From taking this course I have developed problem solving skills that I will use in

school. One of the key elements of this project that will carry over to other mathematic

classes hypothesis testing. Testing the likelihood and event will occur or not occur and if

we should accept the claim or reject the claim based on our findings. Another key

element from this project that will help me is probability; the likelihood of something

happening or being the case. We want to be sure we are confident in our findings, to

make sure everything we report is true and accurate to the best of our abilities.

In so many ways this project changed the way I think about math and how it is

applied to the real world. Like I said before, we take math for granted and when I say
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Math 1040

that is we let machines, calculators, algorithms do the math for us. It won't click until we

do it by hand ourselves. Once we do problems and formulas by hand we can have a

bigger appreciation for short cuts and computers doing the job for us and see the things

we learn in school and apply them in our daily lives.

I recommend anyone who needs to take statistics to take it with professor

Mamun Rashid, one of the best professors I have taken in mathematics, truly care

about his students and wants all of us to succeed and fully understand appreciate

statistics.