Emily Gregorio

April 18, 2019

Confidence Interval Estimates

 Explain in general the purpose and meaning of a confidence interval.

A Confidence Interval is a parameter that consists of an interval of numbers/ range of numbers

where there is a certain probability of a number lying between those 2 intervals

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

Total # of Candies (N) = 2,591

Total # of Yellow Candies (n) X in this case = 514

CL= .99

Calculator: STAT>TESTS>A1-PropZInt

Enter:
X: 514
n: 2591
Confidence Level: .99
Calculate
Output:
P-hat: .1983790
CI: (.1782, .21856)

Interpretation: We are 99% confident that the true proportion of yellow candies would fall between
18.8 and 21.9 yellow candies per 2.17oz skittle bag.

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

Using the # of candies counted by each student as the data I entered the numbers into stat crunch
from excel (because entering these amount of numbers by hang into my calculator caused problems
as I entered #’s in wrong multiple times) and this was the output:

Sample mean: 56.33

Degree of freedom: 46
CI: (52.767, 59.884)
C-level: .95

Interpretation: Because of this output we are 95% confident that true mean of all the candies falls
between 53 (rounded up) and 60 (rounded up) candies per 2.17oz skittle bag.
Hypothesis Tests

 Explain in general the purpose and meaning of a hypothesis test.

A Hypothesis test is used to evaluate 2 mutually exclusive statements and decide which statement
is best supported by the data that is either given or obtained.

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

Ho: P=.20
H1: P not equal to .20 (Two-tailed test)
alpha= 0.05
Total skittles counted n=2,591
Red Skittles x=491
p hat= .189502

Calculator: STAT>TESTS>5:1-PropZtest

Enter:
Po:.2
X:491
N:2591
Pick not equal
Calculate

Answers Given:
Z= -1.33590
P= .181580 : Because this is greater than .05 we fail to reject the Null Hypothesis
P-hat-.189502 (as stated previously)

Interpretation: There is not enough evidence to support that 20% of the skittles are red.

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

First I wrote down what I knew being stated from the question:

Ho: mu= 55
H1: mu not equal to 55 (Two-tailed test)
a= 0.01
n= 2591 (total)

Using the same stat crunch document as I used in the previous questions I entered in the
following:
 Ho: mu= 55
H1: mu not equal to 55
a= 0.01

Interpretation: And was given a p value of .4651 which is greater than .01 meaning there is not
enough statistical evidence to state at the mean number of candies is 55

Reflection
An error that could have been made is the data that we obtain could have been changed throughout
the semester so we may have a different mean than what we originally had which would have an
effect on our answers. Another error that could have occurred is someone obtaining the wrong size
bag or skittles even though the size was in the instructions which would throw off the whole
sample. This sampling method could be improved by having everyone report their findings and not
allowing any changes to be made to those finding. From this research we are able to see a
consistent pattern in the packaging of 2.17oz skittles bag has mean of approximately 58.9 and it is
very unlikely to get a package with less than 55 skittles.

Reflective Writing

During my math 1040 (statistics) class as a class we were able to participate in a project where
we each bought a 2.17oz bag of regular skittles and recorded data from those skittle ( the
number of each color and the total) and then we were able to work throughout the semester
using the data collected. We were able learn how to use a program called Stat Crunch as well as
our calculators to do the equations and not have to do them by hand which saved a lot of time,
effort and caused less confusion. This project was time consuming but extremely helpful in the
way that you could take your time to learn the concepts at your own pace instead of the pace
of others which was to me a very important part. This class was a requirement for my general
education degree but it also pertains to my sociology degree because statistic are heavily used
in sociological research and if I choose to pursue a career in statistics this class will come in to
play often.

Math is everywhere in our world and there is no way to avoid it no matter how hard you
try, whether is figuring out the size of a garden or the average of your test scores in a class it is
all math. This project shows how even the production of candy uses math, each bag has
approximately the same number of candies in each bag because the manufacturers did the
math for the 2.17oz bags and figured out the amount that could be fit in each bag. You can also
see by looking at the consistency of the colors of each bag the manufactures also figured out
approximately how many of each color should be put in the bag to add up to the total that can
fit in that size.