Elizabeth Clark

Mrs. Atkinson
Math 1040 Period 4
5/25/16
Math 1040 Skittles Term Project
This project is a way for me to apply and explore the concepts that I have studied this semester
in Math 1040. Every member of the class purchased a 2.17 oz. bag of skittles, and recorded the
total number of skittles in their bag and their colors. These numbers are the numbers that I
used in this projects. Some of the concepts Im exploring include: organizing and analyzing data,
drawing conclusions using confidence intervals, and drawing conclusions using hypothesis tests.
I hope to be able to better understand these concepts by applying them to something is the
real world.

Organizing and Displaying Categorical Data: Colors

Pie Chart

Pareto chart

The graphs reflected what I was expecting to see. I thought that the colors would be about
equal, and from what we can see they arent that far off from each other. You can see the
differences better in the Pareto Chart. I am a little surprised that yellow was the most abundant
considering that most people usually don't pick yellow as their favorite color of Skittle.
Compared to the whole class, my own data was a bit different. All of my data was the same
except for purple and red. They are switched on mine. My red count was the second most, and
my purple count was the smallest amount.
Results for my bag of candies
Red
14

Orange
11

Yellow
16

Green
12

Purple
9

Yellow
208

Green
187

Purple
203

Results for the entire class sample

Red
166

Orange
183

Organizing and Displaying Quantitative Data: The Number of Candies per Bag
Summary statistics:
n Mean
Std. dev.
16 59.2
2.46

Frequency Histogram

Min
54

Q1
57.5

Median
59.5

Q3
61.5

Max
62

Box Plot

The overall shape of the distribution is skewed left towards the lower numbers. The graphs are
what I expected. I didnt expect these specific numbers, but I thought that the number of
skittles per bag would be similar since skittles are package by weight. The data from the whole
class agrees with my own bag of candy. My bag had 62 skittles, so it would fit in the higher
range of our class. The total bags in our class sample was 16.
Reflection
Categorical data is when we split up the data into groups, such as colors like we used in
this project. Then Quantitative data is when we split up the data by using numbers, like when
we counted the number of candies that we had in each color. It makes sense to use pie charts
or a pareto chart for categorical data, because these kinds of graphs can show us the
proportions of the categories. Using a frequency histogram is good for quantitative data,
because this graph uses the number values on the horizontal scales and the frequencies for the
vertical scale. Also using a boxplot for quantitative data would be good, because boxplots use
the minimum and maximum values, and then break down the range into quartiles. If we tried

switching the graphs that we use for these two different datas, it would not make sense
because the graphs are made for specific purposes and data.
Finding a percentage would make sense for categorical data, because that could tell us
how much one category could contribute compared to another. It would not make sense to find
the mean for categorical data, because categories arent dealing with numbers or trying to find
the average category. On the other hand, finding the mean would make sense if we were
dealing with quantitative data, because it would be useful to us to know the average in a set of
numbers, like the average score on a test.

Confidence Interval Estimates

A confidence interval is a range of values from a sample used to estimate the true value of a
population parameter. Using a confidence interval enables you to find the probability that a
value will fall between the lower and upper bounds of the interval you calculated.
Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate for the true proportion of purple candies
o Results
1-PropZInt
x:203
n:947
c-level: .95

Interval= (.1882, .2405)

Construct a 99% confidence interval estimate for the true mean number of cadies per
bag
o Results
T-Interval
Sample mean: 59.1875
Standard deviation: 2.455
n: 16
c-level: .99

Interval= (58.982, 59.393)

 Construct a 98% confidence interval estimate for the standard deviation of the
number of candies per bag
o Results
n: 16
df: 15
s: 2.455
: .02
Chi-square right: 30.578
Chi-square left: 5.229

Interval= (1.719, 4.158)

The results from my three confidence intervals show the estimates of the true values for the
population parameter of Skittles. We found the estimate for the true proportion of purple
skittles, the true mean number of skittles per bag, and the standard deviation of the number of
skittles per bag.

Hypothesis Tests
A hypothesis test is a procedure for testing a claim about a property of a population. Using a
hypothesis test will enable us to come up with the most effective outcome to a claim or a
conclusion that was made. We can come up with evidence that will be either be sufficient or
insufficient to support the claim that we are making.
Use a 0.01 significance level to test the claim that 20% of all Skittles candies are green
o Results
1Prop-ZTest
p not: .2
x: 187
n:947
Test statistic:
Z= -.19
P-value: .84

.84>.01
Fail to reject null hypothesis
There is insufficient evidence to conclude that the percentage of green skittles is
different than 20%.
Use a 0.05 significance level to test the claim that the mean number of candies in a
bag of Skittles is 56.
o Results
T-Test
not: 56
sample mean: 59.1875
standard deviation: 2.4554
n: 947
Test statistic:
t=39.95
p-value: 0
0<.5
Reject null hypothesis
There is sufficient evidence to conclude that the mean number of skittles per bag
is different than 56.

By doing these hypothesis tests we were able to conclude whether or not there was sufficient
evidence to support the claims we made about the skittles. We tested the claim that 20% of
skittles are green and tested that the mean number of skittles per bag is 56. There was
sufficient evidence to conclude that 20% of skittles are green and there wasnt sufficient
evidence to support that the mean number of skittles per bag is 56.
Reflection
The conditions for doing interval estimates and hypothesis tests for population proportions are:
1. The sample observations are a simple random sample.
2. The conditions for binomial distribution are satisfied.
3. The conditions np 5 and nq 5 are both satisfied.

My sample meets the first and third conditions, but it does not satisfy the conditions for a
binomial distribution. The trials are independent, but there are more than two possible
outcomes. You could end up with one of the five colors of skittles.
The conditions for doing interval estimates and hypothesis test for population means are:
1. The sample is a simple random sample.
2. The population is normally distributed and/or n>30
My Sample meets both of these requirements. The sample is a simple random sample and
the normal probability plot if approximately linear so we can assume a normal distribution.
The conditions for doing interval estimates for population standard deviations are:
1. The sample is a simple random sample.
2. The population must have a normally distributed values.
My sample meets both of these conditions. The sample is a simple random sample and the
population does have normally distributed values.
An error that could have occurred with using this data is that the data came from our class
alone. We only have 16 kids in our class, so it wasnt a very big sample size. The information
would be more accurate if there was a bigger sample size. We could improve the sampling
method by expanding the amount of people that we sample. All of the conclusions that I made
in my statistical research came from the data of my class sample.

Reflective writing
After completing this project and looking back, I now more fully realize that we can use
statistics for everyday items or things in our lives, such as skittles. I also never thought that you
could do so much with a bag of skittles. Math isnt just something that we do inside of the walls
of a classroom, it can be something that is very useful to real world circumstances. I dont think
the world needed to know that much about skittles, but the company who produces skittles
definitely needs to know information like this. Every company out there needs to know the
statistics of their company, or they could end up in a very bad situation. It was intellectually
stimulating to go through all of these steps and apply the knowledge that I have gained over
the semester. I also liked that I was able to compile multiple different concepts into one
organized paper.
The math skills I applied in this paper will definitely impact other classes I plan on taking
in my school career. Currently I am considering taking psychology and statistics will help me
with that. In psychology there are many experiments conducted, and one important
component is that you need to have random samples for your experiment to have valid results.
Then when you get the results of your experiment you can then organize it different ways that
will make sense of the data, like how we learned to do in this class. With your data you can also
test claims about your results and create confidence intervals that a certain value will fall within
your data points. I dont think I would be able to take psychology without also taking stats, so
Im glad that I was able to take this class.