Introduction

For this project we were all instructed to purchase a 2.17 ounce bag of skittles. We then
had count the total number of skittles in our bag, followed by each individual color. We were
also instructed to submit the collected data to Professor Jeppson. After collecting data from all
the students in the class he then shared the collected data from the entire class so that we could
proceed to the next phase of the project. The goal of this project was to determine the average
number of skittles in each bag, as well as the number of each individual color.

Skittles Color Data

319, 20%

360, 22%

Red
Orange

313, 20%

Yellow

315, 20%

Green

294, 18%

Number of Skittles

Skittles Color Data

400

Number of Skittles

14

13

13

315

313

100
0

Color of Skittles

My Skittles Data
8, 13%

14, 23%

Green

Yellow Green Purple Orange

Color of Skittles

Red

Yellow

12, 20%

0
Red

294

200

12

10

319

300

My Skittles Data
15

360

13, 22%

Purple

13, 22%

When we stated this project I imagined that given the number of students in the class
there was no way of predicting the outcome of the number and color of the skittles from each

individual bag. Although when all the data is put together the number of purple, orange and
green is very similar, the biggest difference is between red and yellow. In my bag of skittles the
only number that matched is the red, the rest of the colors where in a completely different order.
Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Purple

TOTAL

CLASS

360

315

294

313

319

1601

MY BAG

14

13

13

12

60

Mean: 59.3
Standard Deviation: 2.71
Min: 54
Max: 66
Median: 59
Q1: 58
Q3: 61
Total Number (my bag): 60
Total Number Bags (Sample):
27

The Histogram is skewed to the right while the Boxplot demonstrates the five-number
summary including the outlier which is 66 for this data. Both graphs display the mean of 59.3
which relatively close to the number of candies in my bag of skittles which was 60. The
midrange (60) of this sample of 27 bags is also consistent with the number of candies in my bag.

Reflection
Pie charts and Bar Charts are ideal for categorical data. Categorical data refers to
information such color, in this case the color of skittles in all the bags. In order to receive the
correct information we used nominal labels to distinguish the colors in each bag. Histograms
and box plots are great for quantitative data. Qualitative data refers to the number used, in this
case the information was discrete and interval. In my opinion the Histogram and Boxplot are
perfect to display the number and percentage of each color of candies. Since the Boxplot is
focused on numbers, it would not make sense to use this to display the color information. The
Histogram was used to display the frequency of the number of candies per bag, the information
of the colors has a lot more detail to it. That much information would have been confusing if we
had used the colors and tried to use the same graph to display the frequency at the same time.