Dakota Peterson

12/4/2017
Math-1040
Introduction

For my Math-1040 class we were instructed to purchase a 2.17-ounce bag of Original

Skittles and count the number of each color of candy and record our data and add it to a

generated excel document of 27 bags of skittles. So, there will be a total of 28 bags of Skittles.

Then we were instructed to complete a number of different exercises involving different aspects

of stats.

Organizing and Displaying Categorical Data: Colors

My Skittles
Red Orange Yellow Green Purple
19 11 13 6 10

Number of Skittles for the Class

Red; 351 Orange; 297 Yellow; 383 Green; 276 Purple; 322
 Number of Skittles for the class

Green

Purple
Colors

Yellow

Orange

Red

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Number of Candies

Class Total
Color Count Proportion of total
Red 351 .215
Orange 297 .182
Green 383 .235
Purple 276 .169
Yellow 322 .198
Total 1629 1.000

Reflection

My observation of the charts is that there are a lot more green and red colors compared

to the other colors. I expected to see a much more even amount of candy color. However, my

bag had very little green compared to the average bag. The other colors in my bag seemed to be

even.
Organizing and Displaying Quantitative Data: The Number of Candies per Bag
The number of bags is 28

The mean number of candies per bag is 58.2

The standard deviation per bag is 3.91
The five-number summary of Skittles per bag is:
Min: 47
Q1: 59
Median: 61
Q3: 63
Max: 65
 My observations of the data are that it is not normally distributed with a bell shape. The

data is slightly skewed to the left. My bag had 59 candies in it so my bug was just underneath

the median. They minimum did surprise me with 47, thats a small bag. But the maximum was

65 its hard to believe that the same size bag can vary so much.

Reflection

The difference in categorical and quantitate data in this exercise is that. The color of the

candies is categorical data and the number of candies is the quantitative data. Categorical data is

data that is broken up by its category, like color labels and names.

The graphs that are the best for categorical data would be pie and pareto charts, just as we

did to represent the colors. These draw attention to the most pertinent information.

The best graphs to use for categorical data such as the histogram and boxplot. They show us

what numbers we are dealing with and if there are any outliers to be aware of. Im not exactly

sure of the calculations that would be best for each type of data though.
Confidence Interval Estimates

A confidence interval is a range of values or numbers that can help you understand where the

population mean resides. The purpose of a confidence interval is

to be guaranteed that the true value of a population parameter will contain a certain value, if

repeated often enough times.

Construct a 99% confidence interval estimate for the true proportion of yellow candies.

X=383

N= 1629

P=.2351

99% Confidence Interval Estimate (.20805, .26218)

Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate for the true mean number of candies per bag.

n=28

Sx=3.91

Sample mean=58.2

95% Confidence Interval estimates: (56.752, 59.648)

Construct a 98% confidence interval estimate for the standard deviation of the number of
candies per bag.

N=28

S=3.91

Sample mean=58.2

Confidence Interval estimate for the standard deviation: (56.373, 60.027)

Hypothesis Test
A hypotheses test is a way you can compare two data sets to see which is correct. The purpose of

a hypothesis test is to make a conclusion about a claim.

Use a 0.05 significance level to test the claim that 20% of all Skittles candies are red.

N= 1629

X=351

A=.05

H0: p=.20 H1: p=/.20

Z=1.561

P=.1185

P=.2155

The p-value is greater than the .05 significance level so fail to reject H0.

Use a 0.01 significance level to test the claim that the mean number of candies in a bag of
Skittles is 55.

N=28

X=58.2

A=.01

H0: u=55 H1: u=/55

T=4.331

P=1.836

The P-value is grater that the level of significance .01 we fail to reject the null hypothesis.
Reflection
The condition that qualified for doing interval estimates and hypothesis test for

population proportions includes that these samples were from simple random samples, the

conditions for a binomial distribution that the np > 5 is satisfied with a normal distribution. The

sample for the population proportion did meet these requirements as the data collected was a

simple random sample and that the np > 5 is (1629) *(0.20) = 352.8 > 5 which is approximately

normally distributed.

The condition that qualified for doing interval estimates and hypothesis test for

population means included that these samples were from a simple random sample, the samples

were larger than 30 and/or that the populations were normally distributed. The sample for this

population mean did meet these requirements as the data that was collected was a simple random

sample and that though sample size was only 28, from the Histogram graphed earlier, shows that

sample was roughly normally distributed.

The possible errors that could have been made by using this data is that the results may

have not been completely accurate. The sampling method may be improved by increasing the

sample size possibly. Our sample was all collected from roughly the same location.

The conclusions that I have drawn from my statistical research is that the population

proportion suggests that the colors should be evenly proportioned in each bag, but that there are

some colors not equally proportioned Also, the mean of each bag contains close to the average

mean of 58.2 and that I can say with a 95% confidence that each bag of Skittles would contain

within a range of that mean and close to the number of Skittles that was in my own bag of 59.
 Reflective Writing and e-Porfolio

While completing this project I learned that stats is very difficult. I would have

liked some more guidance on completing this project as well. I had to learn how to create and

properly use graphs in Microsoft word. As well as use the stat function in Microsoft excel.

Never before this have I had to do that. I am glad that I now know because it will be very handy

in my future classes. I just would have liked some more guidance in doing it so I didnt spend so

much time learning it as I went.

Most of the math skills I used while completing this project I will never use again. The

few skills that I will probably use if the future I am glad I learned how to do them. As I continue

my college career I know I will have to take more math classes and having an understanding in

stats will aid me in those classes. Being able to use excel to solve math problems will be very

handy Im sure. Learning how to properly use the TI-84 calculator will also be very useful as I

further my knowledge in math.

This project really helped develop my problem-solving skills. It pushed me to my mental

limits and made me really think. I had to come at the different questions from different angles. I

also had to teach my self how to use Microsoft word and excel to properly accomplish the task of

this project. That was something I have never had to do before.

This project opened my mind to real life application to math skills. I know how I could

use them if I ever needed to. I was surprised to see the variation between the bags of skittles of

the same size. It makes me wonder what else is out there that you could be cheated out of. I had

originally thought that things of this type were closely watched for quality assurance. I now
know that is not the case. I do not see me using any of these type of math skills in my future but

I now understand the importance and the place in society that math has.