What color are your M&Ms?

Objective:

To perform basic statistical operations and to demonstrate the importance of sample size in obtaining experimental data.

1. From your bag of M&Ms, draw 5 M&Ms randomly.

2. Record the color distribution by number and percent. For example, out of the five, how many of your M&Ms are brown? What percent does that represent of the ones you drew from the bag? If you drew 5 candies and 2 were brown, that represents 40%.

3. Repeat for 10, 20, and 30 candies.

4. Record your data in a table:

5. On a separate sheet of paper, graph your results in a bar graph, with color on the x-axis and percent on the y-axis.

6. How did your results compare to the actual distribution?

7. Explain how this exercise demonstrates the importance of sample size

8. What would you expect to find in a fun size (the tiny ones you get at Halloween), regular size, and GIANT size bag of M&Ms with respect to color distribution? Which bag would be consistently closest to the actual distribution M&Ms claims to have in every bag.