Sam Egbert

Math 1040 Skittles term project

Each person in our statistics class purchased a 2.17oz. bag of original skittles. They then
separated; counted, and noted how many of each color of skittle were found in each bag. We are trying
to find out the mean number of skittles per bag and the standard deviation.
It appears when looking at the data collected from the whole class that the distribution of colors
is fairly uniform. The bag I purchased wasnt as uniformly separated as our class mean. I did expect our
class data to look like it does. I expected the ratio to be very close to 20% each color.
Pie chart overall sample

Color Percentage in a Bag of Skittles

(Based on 25 bags)

21.0%

20.0%

Red
Orange
Yellow

18.7%

20.6%

Green
Purple

19.7%

Color Distribution in a Bag of Skittles

(Based on 25 Bags)
320

21.0%
20.6%

310

20.0%

300

purple

19.5%

green
290
18.7%
280

yellow

270

orange

260

Pareto Chart

red

purple

green

red

yellow

orange

Sample data pie chart from my bag

Color Percentage in a Bag of Skittles

22.4%

24.1%

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green

17.2%
22.4%

Purple

13.8%

Pareto chart

Color Distribution in a Bag of Skittles

(Based on 25 Bags)
16

24.1%

14

22.4%

22.4%

12

Red

17.2%

10

13.8%

Orange
Purple

Green

Yellow

2
0
Red

Orange

The mean = 59.84

Standard deviation = 1.79

Purple

Green

Yellow

Histogram

Frequency

Frequency distribution
(Number of skittles per bag)
15
10
5
Frequency

0
50

51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67

Frequency
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
10
2
4
3
2
0
0
0
0

Confidence intervals:
I constructed a 99% confidence interval estimate for the true proportion of yellow skittles. The interval
is .175<proportion of yellow skittles <.2235 or .18<PY<.22 which means I can say with 99% confidence
that in every bag of skittles between 18% and 22% of the candies in that bag will be yellow.
I constructed a 95% confidence interval estimate for the true mean number of candies in a bag. This
interval reads 59.1<number of candies<60.5. This means I can say with 95% confidence the mean or
average number of candies in a bag of skittles is between 59 and 61.
I constructed a 98% confidence interval estimate for the standard deviation of the number of candies in
a bag of skittles. This interval reads 1.345 <standard deviation<2.676. This means you can say with 98%
confidence the number of skittles will only deviate between 1.345 standard deviations and 2.676.
Hypothesis test:
I used a .05 significance level to test the claim that 20% of all skittles are red. I came up with -.0433 as
my answer, this was in the allowable range so I failed to reject the hypothesis.
I used a .01 significance level to test the claim that the mean number of skittles in a bag of skittles. I
came up with 55, This was not in the allowable range so I reject this hypothesis.

Reflection
When I began this statistics class this term I had no Idea how this could relate to real world
applications. I had no idea what statistics really was or how I would ever use it. I use basic Arithmetic
and Algebra on a daily basis, but had only heard stories about statistics. Statistics is very interesting. I
had always wondered how people figure out chances of something, or the likelihood something would
happen. I found out there is a lot more to it than I could even imagine.
I find it interesting how you can use a pretty simple formula and find correlation between a
number of variables. I didnt know what standard deviations were or how they could be applied. I
found out that in almost everything there is a standard deviation. This is how when things such as
skittles are produced the company is able to keep the number of candies in a bag so similar. I am able to
look at things differently and now have a new way of figuring out how to solve problems.
I previously underestimated Excel and graphing calculators. I learned how useful these tools can
be. With the large number sets people have to work with on a daily basis I couldnt even imagine trying
to solve them without the aid of Excel. It is an amazing program I knew absolutely nothing about prior
to using it in this class. I was even able to show my wife who uses it on a daily basis a thing or two.