Jameson Hedin

Skittles Term Project

Professor Southerland
Math 1040
This project is meant to provide an opportunity for practical application of what we have been
studying throughout the semester. One skittle packet was assigned to each member of the class. We
were each required to count the total number of skittles, plus each color individually. A list of each class
members totals were put together on an excel spreadsheet, from which we each take the data and
provide the desired information. Below are the results from compiling and analyzing the sample data:

Number of Skittles by Color for

entire class
317 292
307

297
299

Number of Skittles from my bag

6
14
14
17

11

colors in my bag
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
green

orange

purple

yellow

red

Colors from entire class

350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Number of Number of
purple
orange
candies
candies

Numberof
yellow
candies

Number of Number of
green
red candies
candies

These charts present the data exactly as I would expect it to be. I would think before any knowledge of
skittle color distribution that they had be pretty evenly distributed in any given package. The pie chart
and the pareto charts above show that there is very little discrepancy on the number of each color when
you take a sample of 25 bags. My personal bag was much different than this very even distribution. The
charts show, though, that as you take more samples the colors even out.
The quantitative data for the class sample is as follows:
Mean: 60.5
Standard deviation: 1.76
5-Number summary:
MIN: 55
Q1: 60
Q2: 61
Q3: 62
MAX: 63

55

63
60

61

62

The box plot above shows the distribution of the data collected. The data is skewed to the left.
CONFIDENCE INTERVAL ESTIMATES
In this section I was able to determine that the true population proportion of purple skittles to the
total number of skittles has a 95% chance of being between .2049 and .2471. I was able to come to this
conclusion by finding the Z crit of the alpha (.05) and using that to find the error for the statistics.

Similar to the section above, here I found that there is a 98% chance that the true standard
deviation of candies in skittles bags is between 1.315 and 2.617.

Hypothesis testing

The conditions for doing interval estimates and hypothesis testing are that the distribution be
normal, or that the sample is large enough. In this case the sample is large enough for the interval
estimates and hypothesis testing to have meaning even though the distribution isnt necessarily normal.
The tests show that the null hypothesis of 20% of the skittles are green should be accepted and the null
hypothesis that the true mean candies per bag is 56 should be rejected.

Reflection

This project has answered, for me, the age old question of what will I ever use math for in
the real world? I am not planning on running around and counting skittles, but this truly put
mathematics in a light that I had never seen it before. Analyzing and interpreting statistics is something
that I do regularly, and this project, and the class in general, has really shed a new light on the
information that I am being presented in my daily life. Being able to actually compile data and produce
the statistics is something that is new to me.
Statistics has opened my eyes to a new career choice and possibility. Actuarial science. It is
frustrating for a math lover to not be able to see a future in it. Actuarial science is true practical
application of math principles to assess risk for different types of companies. Because of this project, and
this class in general, I have been re-thinking my career choice. So, this semester in stats 1040 has meant
a lot more to me than just getting a good grade.
More directly, this project showed me a direct, practical application of what we have been learning
in class. The material really made much more sense when we used real life data that we collected and
compiled the statistics based off of that data. This really showed me that this same process could be
repeated for any number of data. The project also offered me a very logical benefit. It helped me become
more familiar with computer software, especially excel. I had a rudimentary understanding of Microsoft
Excel at best before jumping into this course. The project really showed me that there is so much offered
in Excel. The downside of learning more in Excel is that now I realize how much I dont know. The small
amount of knowledge that I was able to gain from completing this project will, surely, benefit me greatly
as I move forward in my academic career.