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M&MMath

M&MMath
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Abstract
Ithasbeensaidthat,"Lifeislikeaboxofchocolatesyouneverknowwhatyou'regoingtoget"(ForrestGumpin
ForrestGump,1994).Inthisscienceprojectyoucantestthe"ForrestGumpChaosTheory"byusingM&M's,
whicharemuchcheaperthanaboxofchocolates.WhatiflifeismorelikeabagofM&M's?Findoutinthisscience
projectifsomethingsinlifearepredictablebyusingtheawesomepowerofstatistics.

Objective
DoasimplestatisticalanalysisofthefrequencyofcolorsofM&M'sinabag.

Credits
SaraAgee,Ph.D.,ScienceBuddies
TeishaRowland,Ph.D.,ScienceBuddies
Thisscienceprojectisbasedonthisexercise:
Turns,J.(n.d.).Project1:M&M'sExercise.Dept.ofEngineering,UniversityofWashington.RetrievedMarch
6,2013,fromhttp://courses.washington.edu/~stats315/newpage1.htm
(http://courses.washington.edu/~stats315/newpage1.htm)

M&M'sisaregisteredtrademarkofMars,Inc.

CiteThisPage
MLAStyle
ScienceBuddiesStaff."M&MMath"ScienceBuddies.ScienceBuddies,19Feb.2015.Web.24Apr.2015
<http://www.sciencebuddies.org/sciencefairprojects/project_ideas/Math_p021.shtml?from=Blog>

APAStyle
ScienceBuddiesStaff.(2015,February19).M&MMath.RetrievedApril24,2015from
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Lasteditdate:20150219

Introduction
"Lifeislikeaboxofchocolatesyouneverknowwhatyou'regoingtoget"(ForrestGumpinForrestGump,1994).
The"ForrestGumpChaosTheory"statesthatinapopulationofchocolateproduct(i.e.,aboxofchocolates)the
frequencyofaspecificoutcome(i.e.,pickingacaramelfilled,cremefilled,nougatfilled,etc.,chocolatecandy)is
unknownandhenceunpredictable.Ibegtodiffer!Analternativehypothesisisthatthefrequencyofthese
outcomescanbemodeledandpredictedbyusingsimplestatisticalanalysis(i.e.,math).Thismaysound
complicated,butthisscienceprojectwillmakethishypothesiseasytounderstandandtestforyourself.
Togetstarted,wewillneedtofirsttalkaboutstatistics.Statisticsarefactsordatabasedonasetofnumerical
information.Thesetofinformationisoftenaboutacertaingroup,suchasagroupofpeople.Thestatisticsare
usedasanumericalwaytodescribethatgroup,whichisalsocalledapopulationinstatisticsterms.Forexample,
thinkaboutyourclass(apopulationmadeupofagroupofstudents).Somenumericalinformationyoucouldcollect
aboutyourclasswouldbethenumberofboysandgirls,theheightofeachstudent,ortheweightofeachstudent.
Youcouldthentakethisnumericalinformationanduseittodrawcertainconclusionsaboutyourclass,suchasthe
percentageofstudentswhoarefemale,theaverageheight,ortheaverageweight.Thesefactswouldbestatistics
aboutyourclass,thepopulationyouarestudying.
Sometimesstatisticscanbeunpredictable,meaningthattheydonothaveanykindofpattern.Inotherwords,the
numericalinformationtheyarebasedonappearstoberandom.However,manystatisticsdorevealpatternsand
canbeusedtomakemodels,formhypotheses,andmakepredictionsaboutcertainthings.Forexample,ifyou
figuredouttheaverageheightofthestudentsinyourclass,thatstatisticcouldhelpyoupredicttheheightsof
studentsinanotherclassatyourschoolthatisinthesamegradeasyours.
Whatifyouwantedtoknowhowmanystudentsinyourclassareoverfourfeettall?Howcouldyouusestatisticsto
investigateandexplainthis?Youcouldcounthowmanystudentsareoverfourfeettallinyourclassandcompare
thistothetotalclasssize.Instatistics,howoftenacertaineventhappens,suchasastudentbeingoverfourfeet
tall,isreferredtoasthefrequencyofthatevent.Asshowninthisexample,frequencycanbemeasuredby
countingthenumbersofdifferenttypeswithinagroup(likethenumbersofeachdifferenttypeofchocolateinabox
ofchocolates).Inthismathematicsscienceproject,youwilldeterminethefrequencyofdifferentcoloredM&M'sina
packageofM&Mcandies(M&M'saremuchcheaperthanaboxofchocolates).ThesixcolorsofM&M'scandies
areshowninFigure1.

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Figure1.InthisscienceprojectyouwillinvestigatethefrequencyofeachM&McolorinapackageofM&M's.In
thisimage,thefrequencyofeachcoloristhesame(therearethreeofeachcolor).Whatdoyouthinkthe
frequencieswillbelikeinanactualpackageofM&M's?
WhatdoyouthinkthemostcommonM&McolorwillbeinapackageofM&M's?Willyourstatisticsshowapattern?
Howwilldifferenttypesofgraphshelprevealthepatternsandallowyoutomakedifferentcomparisons?Isthe
"ForrestGumpChaosTheory"credible,orcanyoupredictwhatM&Mcolor(s)youaremostlikelytopick?

TermsandConcepts
Hypothesis
Statistics
Numericalinformation
Population
Prediction
Event
Frequency

Questions
Whatisstatistics?Howisitusedtoexplainsomething?
Howisfrequencyrelatedtoanevent?
WhichcolordoyouthinkwillbethemostcommononeinapackageofM&M's?

Bibliography
Dofurtherresearchbyvisitingthefollowingwebsites,whichgiveinformationaboutstatistics,frequency,and
differentareasofmathtohelpreviewmathskills:
Kids.Net.Au.(n.d.).Statistics.RetrievedMarch6,2013,from
http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/st/Statistics (http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/st/Statistics)
MathIsFun.com.(n.d.).RelativeFrequency.RetrievedMarch6,2013,from
http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/relativefrequency.html(http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/relativefrequency.html)
Coolmath4kids.com.(n.d.).Coolmath4kids.com.Coolmath.com,Inc.RetrievedMarch6,2013,from
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/(http://www.coolmath4kids.com/)
Youcanprintoutgraphpaperforthisscienceprojectfromthiswebsite:

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MacLeod,K.(n.d.).FreeOnlineGraphPaper/GridPaperPDFs.Incompetech.com.RetrievedMarch6,
2013,fromhttp://www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/(http://www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/)
Forhelpcreatinggraphs,trythiswebsite:
NationalCenterforEducationStatistics,(n.d.).CreateaGraph.RetrievedJune2,2009,from
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/(http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/)
Thisscienceprojectisbasedonthisexercise:
Turns,J.(n.d.).Project1:M&M'sExercise.Dept.ofEngineering,UniversityofWashington.RetrievedMarch
6,2013,fromhttp://courses.washington.edu/~stats315/newpage1.htm
(http://courses.washington.edu/~stats315/newpage1.htm)

MaterialsandEquipment
StandardsizepackagesofplainM&M's(atleast5,eachholding47.9g)
Optional:Plaingraphpaper,polargraphpaper,andcoloredpencilsormarkers.Bothtypesofgraphpaperare
freelyavailableatIncompetech(http://www.incompetech.com/graphpaper/).
Labnotebook

ExperimentalProcedure
1. InthisexperimentyouwillbecountingthenumbersofdifferentcolorsofM&M'stocalculatethefrequencies
ofthedifferentcolors.Todothis,firstmakeadatatablelikeTable1belowinyourlabnotebooktokeep
trackofyourdata.

Package
CandyColor

Total

Average

Percentage

Brown

Blue

Green

Yellow

Orange

Red

WholeBag

Table1.Inyourlabnotebook,makeadatatablelikethisonetorecordthenumberofM&M'sofeachcolorineach
package.
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2. OpenthefirstpackageofM&M's.CountthenumberofM&M'sofeachcolorandwritethenumbersinyour
datatable.DonoteattheM&M'sbeforeyoucountthem!
3. Repeatstep2foreachpackageofM&M's.
a. Youshouldsampleatleastfivepackages,butyoucandoasmanyasyourparentswillletyouopen.
Themoresamplesyoutake,thebetteryourdatawillbe.However,toomanysamplesandyoumight
getatummyache!
4. CalculatethetotalnumberofM&M'sineachpackage.
a. Dothisbyaddingdowneachcolumn.
b. Foreachpackage,writetheanswerinthe"WholeBag"boxinthebottomrowofyourdatatable.
5. Foreachcandycolor,calculatethetotalnumberinallofthepackagescombined.Alsocalculatethetotal
numberofM&M'sinallofthepackagescombined.
a. Dothisbyaddingacrosseachrow.
b. Writetheanswersinthe"Total"columnofyourdatatable.
6. Calculatetheaveragenumberofeachcandycolorperpackage.Alsocalculatetheaveragenumberof
candiesperpackage.
a. Dothisbydividingthetotalnumbersyoucalculatedinstep5bythenumberofpackages(which
shouldbe5ormore).
b. Writetheanswersinthe"Average"columninyourdatatable.
7. CalculatethepercentageofeachcoloredM&Mperpackageusingtheaveragedata.
a. Dothiscalculationbydividingtheaveragenumberofeachcolor(calculatedinstep6)bytheaverage
numberofM&M'sinthewholebagandthenmultiplyingyouranswerby100.
i. Forexample,ifthereareanaverageof5redM&M'sineachbagandanaverageof50M&M's
inawholebag,youwilldivide5by50(whichequals0.10)andthenmultiplyby100(which
gives10%).
b. Writetheanswersinthe"Percentage"columninyourdatatable.
c. Note:Ifyoudothissamecalculationwithyourwholebagdata,youshouldget100%.
8. Makeabargraphusingthedatafromthe"Average"columnofyourdatatable.Itwilltellyouthefrequency
ofeachcolorofM&Minthepackage.Itisusefulforcomparingthefrequenciesofeachindividualcolorto
eachoftheotherindividualcolors.
a. YoucanmakethisgraphbyhandoruseawebsitelikeCreateaGraph
(http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/CreateAGraph/default.aspx)tomakethegraphonthecomputerandprintit.
b. Tomakethebargraph,labeltheyaxis(theverticalaxisgoingupanddown)withascalerepresenting
theaveragenumbersofM&M's.Thesmallestnumberofthescale(minimum)willbezeroandthe
largestnumberofthescale(maximum)willbesetjustabovethelargestaveragenumberofM&M'sin
anycolor.
i. Forexample,ifthelargestaveragenumberofM&M'scountedwas25brownM&M's,then
makethescaleontheyaxisgoupto30.
c. Onthexaxisofthebargraph(thehorizontalaxisgoingleftandright),makeabarforeachcolor.
MakethebargouptothenumberontheyaxisthatcorrespondstotheaveragenumberofM&M's
countedforthatcolor.
i. Youmaywanttoorderthebarsonyourbargraphfromsmallesttolargest.
ii. Labeleachbarwiththecorrectcolor(and,ifpossible,colorinthebarwiththematchingcolor
too).
d. Labelthebargraphwithatitle,suchas"AverageNumberofEachM&MColorinaPackage."
9. Lookingatyourdatainthebargraph,trytoanswerthefollowingquestions:
a. IntheaveragepackageofM&M's,whichcoloraremostoftheM&M's(highestfrequency)?
b. Whichcoloristherarest(lowestfrequency)?
c. Doanyofthecolorshavethesamefrequencies?
d. Doyouseeanyothertrendsinyourdatainthebargraph?
10. Nowyouarereadytomakeyoursecondgraph,thepiegraph,usingthedatafromthe"Percentage"column
ofyourdatatable.Itwilltellyouwhichportionofthewholebagisofeachcolor.Itisusefulforcomparingthe
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relativeproportionofeachindividualcolortothewholepopulation.
a. YoucanmakethisgraphbyhandoruseawebsitelikeCreateaGraph
(http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/CreateAGraph/default.aspx)tomakethegraphonthecomputerandprintit.
b. Usingpolargraphpaper,makeapiegraphwhereeachslicecoloredinisequaltothepercentageof
oneofthecolors.
i. Forexample,ifblueM&M'sare15%ofabag,andifyourpolargraphpaperhasaslicemarked
forevery5units,thencolorinthreeoftheseslicesfortheblueM&M's.
ii. Labeleachslicewiththecorrectcolor(and,ifpossible,useamatchingcolorforeachsection).
Youcanevenwritethepercentdatainsideeachslice.
iii. Makeatitleforyourgraph,suchas"PercentageofEachM&MColorinaPackage."
11. Lookingatyourdatainthepiegraph,trytoanswerthefollowingquestions:
a. WhatisthepercentageofeachcolorofM&Minthepackage?
b. Doesanycolormakeupmorethanhalfofapackage?Whataboutmorethanathirdofthepackage?
12. Lookingatyourdatatableandgraphs,doyouthinkyoucanpredictwhatcolor(s)M&Myouaremostlikelyto
pickfromapackage?Ifso,whatcolor(s)isit?

Variations
YoucouldtrythisscienceprojectwithothertypesofM&Mcandies,suchaspeanutorpretzelM&Mcandies
insteadofplainM&Mcandies.IstheremuchvariationinthecolorsthatdifferenttypesofM&Mcandies
have?
Toreallytestthe"ForrestGumpChaosTheory"youcouldinvestabitmorecash,andtalkyourparentsinto
springingfor10boxesofchocolates.Forthoseinvestigatorsonatightbudget,youcandoasimilar
statisticalexperimentwithalmostanyotherproductthatcomespackagedwithamixtureofcolors,shapes,
sizesortypes.Herearemoreideas:Skittles,jellybeans,abagofchips,marbles,Pokemoncards,etc.Can
youaccuratelypredictwhatyouaremostlikelytopickfromoneofthesepackages?
Youcanusethesamekindofstatisticalanalysisformoreadvancedcomparisons:thenumberofdifferent
languagesspokenbystudentsinyourschool,thedifferenttypesofpetsownedbydifferentpeople,car
ownershipoffamiliesatyourschool,numberofseedssproutingperseedpacket,howtallpeopleareatyour
school,howmanygirlsandboysineachclassorgrade,etc.Figureouthowbesttousestatisticsto
describedifferentpartsoftheworldaroundyou.
Anothermoreadvancedwaytolookatfrequenciesistolookatadistributionoffrequenciestoseehowmuch
variationthereisinyourdataset.Youcandothisbymakingadifferentkindofgraph,calledahistogram,for
eachcolorfromeachpackage.Dosomebackgroundresearchonhistogramstofigureouthowtomakeone.
Onthexaxis(horizontalaxis)youcanseparatethecolorsfromeachpackagebytheirfrequency.For
example,youcoulddividethexaxisinto0to5candies,6to11candies,12to17candies,etc.Onthey
axis(verticalaxis)keeptrackofthenumberofpackagesused.Forexample,ifyouaremakingahistogram
ongreenM&M'sandonepackagehas3greenM&M's,twopackageshave10greenM&M's,afourth
packagehas8greenM&M's,andafifthpackagehas4greenM&M's,onyourhistogramyouwouldputtwo
packagesinthe0to5candiescategory,andthreepackagesinthe6to11candiescategory.Foreachcolor,
whatisthemostcommonamountofcandiestofindinapackage?

AskanExpert
TheAskanExpertForumisintendedtobeaplacewherestudentscangotofindanswerstosciencequestionsthat
theyhavebeenunabletofindusingotherresources.Ifyouhavespecificquestionsaboutyoursciencefairproject
orsciencefair,ourteamofvolunteerscientistscanhelp.OurExpertswon'tdotheworkforyou,buttheywillmake
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