1 Introduction

Communicate
coherent
organisation of the M&M's originated in the United States in 1941 in the original colours of brown, yellow, green
response, and violet. Since their development, the colours have changed depending on popularity and
appropriate genre,
suitable times with special bags created for festive seasons such as Christmas and Easter and to also
introduction coincide with major sporting events.
The introduction
describes what the The colour of M&M’s in bags today consists of red, yellow, green, blue, brown and orange.
task is about and
briefly outlines how The official M&M’s website state that all bags of M&M’s contain colours in the following
the writer intends to
complete the task. percentages

Figure 1:Colours in M&M's

Colour Proportion %
Red 13
Communicate Yellow 14
coherent Green 16
organisation of the
response, Blue 24
appropriate genre, Brown 13
Referenced using
Orange 20
APA (Madison, 2019)

The results presented in this report are the result of an investigation into the accuracy of the
stated proportion of colours. Data was collected from samples of different sized bags of milk
Formulate
M&M’s and the percentage relative frequency of the colours calculated using excel. The
accurate translation percentage frequencies were graphed and the differences to stated values calculated as well as
of problem, the mean and range of the differences.
identifying
mathematical
concepts and
techniques

2.0 Observations and Assumptions

Formulate  M&M’s are available in a number of variations and sized bags.
documentation of  Milk M&M’s will be used
assumptions and
 Fun size (13.5g), medium (49g) and large (180g) bags will be investigated
observations
 It is assumed the percentages in Figure 1 are for typical M&M’s so special event
packages will be ignored
 A minimum of 13.5g of M&M’s will provide reliable data
 The source of the M&M’s does not affect the data; fun sized bags can come from the
same or different larger bags and the place of manufacture has no effect.

2.0 Method
Formulate accurate
translation of To investigate the accuracy of the stated proportion of colours in M&M’s the following
problem, identifying procedures were carried out:
mathematical
concepts and  The frequency of colours from 1 large bag, 1 medium bag and 1 fun sized bags were
techniques counted and tabulated
 The percentage relative frequency of each colour was calculated using excel
 The percentage relative frequency for each bag and the stated proportion were
displayed on a comparative column graph
 Differences between stated and actual values were calculated including mean and
range

Communicate 3.0 Solving

coherent Raw data including tally can be found in Appendix A.
organisation of the
response,
appropriate genre, The percentage relative frequency for a large bag was found as follows:
suitable body

Solve 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟
Use of mathematical 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 (𝑅𝐹)% = × 100
formula 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
Communicate 23
Correct layout of 𝑅𝐹 (𝑅𝑒𝑑 )% = × 100
calculations 188
= 12.23%
≈ 12%
Solve
Efficient use of
technology – This formula was used in excel to calculate the percentage relative frequency for the 3 different
Excel used for sized bags. Full results and formulas used are in Appendix B.
repetitive
calculations,
authenticated in The calculated relative frequencies are shown in Figure 2.
appendix

Communicate
coherent and
concise organisation Figure 2: Colour Mix in Different Size Bags of M&Ms.
of the response
(use of table with
appropriate COLOUR RELATIVE FREQUENCE (%)
headings, no Large Normal Fun Size Stated
irrelevant Red 12 19 21 13
information)
Yellow 12 9 14 14
Green 14 7 21 16
Blue 29 33 21 24
Brown 15 19 7 13
Evaluates – reason
Orange 17 13 14 20
for graph Total 100 100 100 100

To compare the data visually excel was used to create the graph shown in Figure 3.
Communicate
coherent and
concise organisation
Figure 3: Colour Mix in Different Sized Bags of M&M's
of the response
(use of graph with
appropriate Relative Frequency of Colours in Bags of M&M's
headings, if colour is
part of the key, it is 35
printed in colour)
Relative Frequency (%)

30
25
20
15
Solve
10
Efficient use of
technology – 5
appropriate graph 0
Red Yellow Green Blue Brown Orange
Colours

Large Medium Fun Size Stated

Analysis of the table shows that there is only one (highlighted on the table) match to the stated
Formulate
values. From the graph in Figure 3 it can be seen that the proportion of red in all bags exceeds
Documentation of the stated value while the proportion of orange is lower. The large and medium bags also have
relevant
observations more and blue and brown M&M’s than the stated value but less yellow and green M&M’s. This
is different to the fun size bag which has more green M&M’s but less blue, brown and orange.

To quantify the difference between the calculated proportions and the stated values, a
percentage difference was found for each value. For example, using the values for the number
of red M&M’s in a large bag:
Evaluate 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 − 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
Justification and 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 = × 100%
explanation of 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
procedures used 12 − 13
and decisions made %𝐷𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑑 = × 100%
using mathematical
13
reasoning = −8%

Communicate
correct use of
appropriate
mathematical
language and
The mean and range for the percentage difference for each type of bag was calculated using
conventions – lining excel. The results are shown in Figure 4. Refer to Appendix B for evidence of use of excel.
up =, formatting
correctly

Solve Figure 4: Percentage Difference in Proportion of Colours

Discerning
application of % Difference
mathematical
concepts and Colour Large Medium Fun Sized
techniques relevant
to the task
Red -8 46 62
Yellow -14 -36 0
Solve
use of complex
Green -13 -56 31
procedures to reach Blue 20 39 -11
an accurate solution
(note: complexity of Brown 19 42 -45
procedures is Orange -15 -35 -29
dependent on the
year level – this is a
response at a year 8 Mean 2 0 1
level and this
response should not Range 35 98 107
be interpreted as
showing suitable
level of complexity
beyond this year The results do not support the official websites claim for the proportion of different colours.
level) Only 1 colour in 1 bag (yellow in fun sized) is the same as the stated claim. All the remaining
differences (except red in large bag) are in excess of 10% difference with a high of 62%
difference in fun sized red.

While the mean differences were low ( 0 to 2), the ranges are large (35, 98 and 107) indicating
Evaluate and verify that there are significant differences between the stated claim and the contents of the bags.
Justification and
The low mean is the result of the higher proportions balancing the lower proportions.
explanation of
procedures used
and decisions made
using mathematical
reasoning
 4.0 Evaluation and Refinement
Evaluate and verify
Evaluation of One of the assumptions made at the start of the investigation was that a minimum of 13.5g of
reasonableness of M&M’s provide reliable data. This is the equivalent of one fun size bag. The fun size bag used
solutions by
considering results, contained 14 M&M’s, which is a very small sample size. In addition, one M&M represents 7% of
assumptions and/or the sample. Hence the reliability of the data is questionable.
observations

To improve the reliability of the data, a larger sample of 20 fun sized bags was investigated. The
20 fun size bags gave a total weight of 270g with 290 individual M&M’s. This sample was 1.5
Evaluate
Justification and times the size of the large bag. The results are summarised in Figure 5 with raw data in
explanation of Appendix ???
procedures used
and decisions
made using Figure 5: Investigating the Effect of Sample Size
mathematical
reasoning
1 Bag 20 Bags Stated
Colour %RF %RF %
Red 21 14 13
Yellow 14 14 14
Formulate Green 21 20 16
accurate translation Blue 21 25 24
of problem,
identifying Brown 7 12 13
mathematical Orange 14 15 20
concepts and
techniques Total 100 100 100

This data was then used in excel to generate the comparison column graph in Figure 6.
Solve

Efficient use of Figure 6: Investigating Effect of Different Sized Samples

technology –
appropriate graph
Results From Different Sized Samples
Communicate 30
25 24
Relative Frequency (%)

coherent and
concise
25
20 20
organisation of the
response 20
16 15
(use of graph with 14 13 14 14
appropriate 15 12 13
headings, if colour
is part of the key, 10
it is printed in
colour) 5

0
Red Yellow Green Blue Brown Orange
Colour of M&M's
Formulate
Documentation of
relevant 1 Bag 20 Bags Stated
observations

From the graph it can be seen that the relative frequency for 20 bags is closer to that of the
stated percentage than for the 1 bag. For all colours the difference to stated values has
decreased. This indicates that the initial assumption about sample size was invalid.

The percentage differences were again calculated using excel in a similar manner to that used
when analysing the one bag data. The results are below.

Figure 6: Comparing Differences in Relative Frequency

% Relative Frequency Percentage Difference

 Colour 1 Bag 20 Bags Stated 1 Bag 20 Bags
Red 21 14 13 62 8
Yellow 14 14 14 0 0
Green 21 20 16 31 25
Evaluate Blue 21 25 24 -11 4
Justification and
explanation of
Brown 7 12 13 -45 -8
procedures used Orange 14 15 20 -29 -25
and decisions
made using
mathematical
reasoning
All percentage differences have decreased compared to those of the one fun size bag. Red is
now 54% closer to the stated value. It is also evident that orange and brown are still less than
the stated proportion with only a 4% decrease in the difference of orange. The highest
percentage differences are for the green and orange M&M’s at 25%.

Communicate 3.0 CONCLUSION

coherent
organisation of the The results of this investigation show that the officially stated proportions of colours do es not
response, occur in individual bags. As the proportions for the largest sample investigated were closer to the
appropriate genre, stated values it is possible that across the total number of M&M’s the stated proportions may be
suitable conclusion
met. To determine if this is correct, larger sample sizes for each type of bag should be
The conclusion investigated. Consideration could also be given to investigating the manufacturer of the M&M’s
states the outcome to see if this affects the proportion of colours.
of the investigation
and suggestions for
improvement/furthe
r investigation based
on
results/assumptions
APPENDIX A: FORMULAS USED IN EXCEL
Calculating percentage relative frequency for Figure 2

Percentage differences including mean and range for Figure 4