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Baylee Warner

Mr. Price

Math 1040, Section 3

09 January 2018

Math 1040 Skittles Term Project

For this math project everyone in the class brought in a skittles bag that was 2.17 ounces

big. We each then counted the total number of skittles in the bag while excluding ones that were

partial. After counting the total, each person counted how many red, orange, yellow, green, and

purple skittles were in their bag. After everyone counted their skittles, we got into groups to

make the sample size.

For my group of five we had a total of 300 Skittles. Out of those 300, 58 of them were

red, 56 were orange, 62 were yellow, 56 were green, and 68 were purple. In my personal bag I

had a total of 59 Skittles. Out of those 59, 16 were red, 13 were orange, 9 were yellow, 8 were

green, and 13 were purple. The sample size proportion versus my proportion for red was 0.193,

versus 0.271, orange was 0.187 versus 0.220, yellow was 0.207, versus 0.153, green was 0.187,

versus 0.136, and finally for purple it was 0.227, versus 0.220. The sample size reflected the

results that we expected to see because they were nearly all the same, while my personal bag did

not reflect what we expected to see. (See charts 1 and 2 for more information).
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Chart 1: Sample size proportions

Chart 2: My personal bag proportions.

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The shape of the distribution varies from figure to figure (see figures 1-8). The means of

the different colored skittles were about what was expected because they were all in the same

region of one another. The standard deviation of the total number of skittles and the different

colors were not what was expected though. We expected to have very small amount of standard

deviation with all of them close to one another. But what actually happened was that all except

the purple were close together, skewing that distribution a bit. The mean number of candies was

60, while what I got was 59 which is close enough. The mean number of red was 11.6 while I got

16 which is quite a bit more than the mean. I had 13 orange which is above the mean of 11.2.

The mean for yellow was 12.4 but I got 9 which is below what was expected. I had 8 green in my

bag while the mean was 11.2, way below what it should have been. Finally I had 13 purple and

the mean for purple was 13.6, so my purple were where they were expected to be.

Figure 1: Total of Skittles Boxplot.

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Figure 2: Red Skittles Boxplot.

Figure 3: Orange Skittles Boxplot.

Figure 4: Yellow Skittles Boxplot.

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Figure 5: Green Skittles Boxplot.

Figure 6: Purple Skittles Boxplot.

Figure 7: Mean of the Categorical Data.

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Figure 8: Standard Deviation of Categorical Data.

The difference between categorical data and quantitative data is that categorical does not

have any numbers associated with it while you can use numbers to represent quantitative data.

Using histograms does not make sense to use for categorical data because histograms require two

different levels of numbers, making it impossible to make with categories. While column graphs

are great for categorical graphs (see figure 8). The graph that does not make sense to use for

quantitative graphs are pie charts because the pie charts require to be put into categories which is

not possible with just numbers. On the other hand, histograms are perfect for quantitative data

because histograms are only about numbers. Calculations that would not work for categorical

data would be those that need numbers, while those good for categorical data would be those that

need uncountable things to be able to work. Calculations that would work for quantitative data

are the calculations that can only have numbers in order to work, those that would not work with

quantitative data would be those that need categories.

The general purpose of a confidence interval is to determine with a certain level of

confidence where the data should lie within. For example, I am 99 percent certain that the true
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proportions of yellow candies lie within 9.4 and 15.4. Another example is that I am 95 percent

confident that the true mean number of candies per bag is between 57.9 and 62.1. These results

just mean that most of the data will lie between these boundaries with very few exceptions.

The general purpose of a hypothesis test is to determine what proportion is expected to

happen. For example, using a 0.05 significance level on the claim that 20 percent of Skittles are

red, I determined that there was not enough evidence to be able to reject the claim because the

p-value is 0.056, which is more than the significance level of 0.05. Another example by using a

significance level of 0.01 to test the claim that the mean number of candies in a Skittles bag is

55, I concluded that there is sufficient evidence to be able to reject null because the p-value is

0.009 which is less than the significance level of 0.01.

In order to make interval estimates you have to have the standard deviation, mean, the

number of observations, and the confidence level needed. If you do not meet these requirements

you will not be able to make a confidence level. With the data that I got, I was able to quickly

make a confidence interval. To be able to make a hypothesis test you have to have a claim or a

null hypothesis, and an alternative hypothesis. You also need a mean, a standard deviation, and

the number of observations. My data had all of these requirements so I was able to do hypothesis

tests. A possible error that could have been made while using this data is using my personal

bag’s data instead of the sample’s data. The sampling method could have been improved by

having more bags to test out of. The conclusions I can conclude from the statistical research I

have done is that the colors are about equal across a group but the number of Skittles in a bag is

more than is claimed to be.

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This project also helped me with my problem solving skills. Throughout the project I had

to use a lot of different numbers. With each different problem I had to determine what numbers

were needed, and from which set of data they were needed from. I can now be able to place these

newly strengthened skills into the real world.

While doing this research my views on how statistics are not used in the real world were

changed. I realized that statistics are used in day to day life and used more often than I thought

they would be. Even something as simple as the number of skittles in a bag are important.

The most prevalent place statistics is found is the business realm. Business owners need

to make sure all of their products are keeping up to standards. Not only that but owners of

business’ need to make sure that their company is doing well in the economy. Plus they need to

see the maximum they can sell their products without deterring customers. All of these problems

can be figured out by using statistics.

The skills I have learned in this class is also applicable in the field of work I am looking

into. I want to become a nurse. In this field of work it is good to know how much medication a

patient needs, how many hours there needs to be in between the different drugs. It is also good to

know what medications help with what disease and what percent they help, and what percent of

people get what side effects. All of these different problems have can be figured out while using

skills I learned in this statistics class.

In conclusion, this class and this project helped me realize a few different things. It

helped me find out that statistics is applicable out of a statistics class and that I can even use

them in the line of work I would like to get in to. I also learned new skills about how to solve
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problems. If I am able to ask questions to others and not give up on the problem than I will be

able to figure it all out.