Madison Ingman

7/11/16

Math 1040 Project

Introduction:
This Project begins with every member of the class getting a small
package of skittles and counting the amount of skittles of each
color that are in their package. Next we take all the amounts of
colored skittles and send an email with our personal data to the
professor. After the amounts are turned into the professor the
data set is put together
and then the results will
be compared by the
students using many
different statistical
strategies we have
learned in class. This
includes using the
specific tactics for
categorical information
versus the quantitative
and graphing the data to
compare to our own
personal results. Things
we will determine
include if the same
amount of skittles are
dispensed in all
packages and whether
there is an equal amount
of
each color in a bag.

Observation:

Madison Ingman
7/11/16

My original thoughts on
what the data from this
project would show is
generally equal amounts
of skittles in each color
from the bags. As you
can see from the charts
this was generally the
case but there was slight
variance in the amounts
with the lowest being
orange skittles at 173
and the highest being
yellow at 191. This data
only represents a small
sample of the skittle
bags in the world so we
cant be positive this
gives an accurate
statistic. On the other
hand, the results showed
the given skittles in my

Madison Ingman
7/11/16

bag were more uneven

than the total of the
class. Among that I also
got the least amount of
skittles in my bag, it was
interesting to see that
different people got
different amounts of
skittles in each bag and
how they dont distribute
the same amount in each
bag.
Organizing and Displaying Quantitative Data: the number
of Candies per bag
Mean: 60.3
Std. Deviation: 2.29
5 number summary:
Min: 55
Q1: 59
Median: 60
Q3: 63
Max: 63
Candies in my bag: 55
Total number of bags: 15

Madison Ingman
7/11/16

Observation:
The

distribution of the histogram shows that that

most of the bags number of skittles are
within the range of 58-64 and there is only
one that lies outside this region. This data
does show that not every package has the
same amount of skittles, some may have 55
while others may have 63, this is not what I
expected to see because I thought they put
the same amount in each package. My own
data was outside of the normal range at 55
and was the minimum amount.

Reflection:
In regards to this skittle project we can tell that our information
with the skittle colors are categorical (qualitative) since the colors
are categories and not numbers representing amounts or
measurements. Then the amounts of skittles in each bag is the
quantitative data in this project since we are using numerical data

Madison Ingman
7/11/16

that represent measurements. The certain types of graphs that

work with categorical data are pie charts and pareto charts. These
all allow the data to be split into categories in order to be
compared to one another. The graphs best for quantitative are
box plots, dot plots and histograms since these allow us to see
the measurements being compared and see the measurements
that are unusual. The calculations that make sense with
categorical data are the sample size and the percentage/ fraction
of the sample in each category. Calculations that work with
quantitative data are the mean, standard deviation, minimum,
maximum, quartile 1, quartile 3 and the median. Since categorical
data do not have measurements they cannot be calculated to
have any of these amounts but are usually used to find the
fraction of each category in the sample
Confidence interval
The purpose and meaning of a confidence interval is to estimate
the true value of a population proportion.
Constructing
a
99%
confidence
interval
estimate for the true
proportion
of
yellow
candies.

Madison Ingman
7/11/16

We are 99% confident that the interval from 0.176 to 0.246

actually does contain the true value of the population proportion.
This means if we were to select many different samples of size
905 that 99% of them would actually contain the value of p
(population proportion.)

Constructing a 95% confidence interval estimate for the true

mean
number
of
candies per bag

Madison Ingman
7/11/16

Interpretation: We are
95% confident that the
limits of 59.03 and 61.57
actually do contain the
value of the population
mean.
Construct
a
98%
confidence
interval
estimate for the standard
deviation of the numbers
of candies per bag

Interpretation: We have 98% confidence that the limits of 1.587

and 3.969 contain the true value of the standard deviation.
Hypothesis Tests: The purpose and meaning is to use confidence
intervals to test some claim made about a population proportion.

Madison Ingman
7/11/16

Using a 0.05 significance level test the claim that 20% of all
skittles candies are red

Interpretation: Since the value is not in the critical region we can

determine that it fails to reject the null so it is possible.

Madison Ingman
7/11/16

Using a 0.01
significance
level to test
the
claim
that
the
mean
number
of
candies in a
bag
of
skittles is 55

Interpretation: Since 8.964 is greater than the CV it proves to

reject the Ho .
Reflection: Interval estimates and hypothesis tests do require
many conditions and depending on the information or best way
provided there are different intervals that can be calculatedin
ways such as true proportion, true mean and through the
standard deviation. When using these methods we can make a
approximately correct estimate on our data being correct. There
are many errors that can be caused when calculating such as
using the wrong formulas or forgetting which area is the CV area
on the hill diagram. I believe there are more specfific and
accurate ways to compare your data than using limits or intervals
and hypotheses are called so for a reason.