1 Hayden Christensen

Math 1040 Skittles Term Project

Each student in my 1040 class was asked to get a bag of skittles and record the number of each
color of candies in the bag. We would then compute probability and such using the data we had

collected. Then we were asked to add charts and graphs to this paper.
Results of my bag:
Red Orange Yellow Green Purple Total

8 10 11 14 16 59

The data is what I expected except for the red and purple skittles. The number of purple
doubles the number of red. Other than that, it is what I expected.

Mean Std. Dev. Min Q1 Median Q3 Max

58.6 2.18 54 57 59 60 63
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Based on the frequency histogram the distribution of candies per bag appears to be close
to a normal distribution. This is what I was expecting to see since each bag is sold based on
weight, and each candy is approximately the same size.

Categorical vs. Quantitative Data

Categorical data is used for items that are not measured or have a logical order. They are
grouped together by their category, such as: street names or names of classes a person is taking
in school. When graphing categorical data you would find things like pie charts or bar graphs.
The X-axis would show your categories and Y-axis the number of items in that category.
Quantitative data measures things. It is used for heights, weights, number of people in a class.
Charts used for quantitative data would include histograms, pareto charts, stem plots, box plots
and scatter plots. The X-axis would show one measurement while the Y-axis shows another
measurement.

Confidence Intervals
A confidence interval is used to illustrate how confident you are in your sample estimate.
It offers a range that you would expect to find a majority of the population parameter.

99% confidence interval estimate for the number of yellow candies: 3.582< p < 25.085

95% confidence interval estimate for the true mean number of candies per bag: 60.014 < μ <
61.320
 3 Hayden Christensen

Based on the above work we would find the number of yellow candies to be between
3.582 and 25.085 in 99% of the bags. In 95% of the bags the true mean number of candies per
bag is between 60.014 and 61.320 candies each.

Hypothesis Testing
When a claim is given we use hypothesis testing to see if that claim is true or if we reject
that claim. The Null hypothesis is when you state that your information is equal to something.
The alternate hypothesis says whether you're not equal, less than, or greater than a stated value.
Your claim can be in reference to either a Null or Alternative hypothesis.

With a 0.05 significance level test the claim that 20% of all skittles candies are red:
H0: 20% of skittles = red - Claim
H1: 20% of skittles ≠ red I
fail to reject the claim that 20% of all Skittles candies are red.

With a 0.01 significance level test the claim that the mean number of candies in a bag of Skittles
is 55:
H0: Mean skittles per bag = 55 - Claim
H1: Mean skittles per bag ≠ 55
Reject the claim that the mean number of candies in a bag of Skittles is 55

In the first test I fail to reject the null hypothesis, which is the claim, because the actual number
of red skittles is 21% and that is close to our significance level of 0.05. Again, for test two I fail
to reject the null hypothesis, the claim, because the true mean is 58.6 per bag and that falls within
the 0.05 significance level.
Conditions for doing confidence interval estimates and hypothesis tests for population
proportions:
1. The sample is a simple random sample.
2. The conditions for a binomial distribution are met.
3. There are at least 5 successes and at least 5 failures.

The conditions were met for the confidence interval estimates and hypothesis tests.
Student in the class were asked to purchase their own bags of candies. These bags came from
many different stories, not bags that were assigned to us and could have possibly been altered.
The conditions for a binomial distribution were met. With 50 bags we had more than the
minimum of 5 successes and 5 failures.

Conditions for doing confidence interval estimates and hypothesis tests for population means:
1. The sample is a simple random sample.
 4 Hayden Christensen

2. The population is normally distributed or the sample size is greater than 30.
The requirements for confidence interval and hypothesis tests were met. First, our sample size
was definitely more than 30. Again, the sample was random because students purchased
individual bags from various locations. Conditions for doing confidence interval estimates for
population standard deviations:
1. The sample is a simple random sample.
2. The population must have normally distributed values.
The requirements for confidence interval were met. Students purchased individual bags from
various locations. Our population is normally distributed values.

Errors that could have occurred during our project include: Bags could have come from
the same store, causing that batch to have similar numbers of a certain color causing data to be
skewed. Students could have guessed on their skittles instead of purchasing a bag. This could
have caused an unusually high or low number of reported skittles. An outlying number of skittles
could have also been reported by students who purchased the wrong size bag required for the
project. To improve the sampling method each student could be given a certain area within to
purchase their skittles, to avoid overlap. We could have been requested to bring our bags to class
for counting, eliminating those who 'made up' their numbers or purchased the wrong size bag of
candies.

Reflection
As I pass through my journey into the sociology field, I find myself being surrounded by
statistical data. Knowing what is reliable and what is made up is very important when it comes to
human interaction. There are studies consistently being done on human interaction and
percentages of people who are depressed without human interaction. What I have learned from
taking this class has opened my eyes to how these studies are done. I have a sense of confidence
that I can read a research paper and know that what I am reading is reliable and relevant, and I
didn’t have before. I also feel that I can participate in the collection and presentation of data.
There have already been times in classes that I take where I hear terms such as 'confidence
interval' or 'stratified study' that I did not understand before. Now I can properly assimilate that
knowledge; using it to expand my understanding of the world.