M&M’s Lab – Random Sampling
1. How many plain M&M’s do you think there are in a 1.69 oz bag?
2. Do you think every bag of plain M&M’s that size has exactly the same
number of M&M’s in it?
3. What colors are there in a bag of plain M&M’s?
4. How many of each color do you think there are in each 1.69 oz bag of
plain M&M’s?
5. Open your bag of M&M’s and count them. How many of each color are
there?
6. Write each color as a percent of the total bag.
7. Record your results on a separate piece of paper. Collect this same data
from each of your classmates. (percent of each color in each of their bags of
M&M’s)
8. Find the mean, median, and mode of the percents of each color.
9. Send one person from your table team to the internet to this website:
http://www.baking.m-ms.com/cai/mms
In the pulldown menu in the upper right, select “M&M’s brand” and go to
the FAQ’s.
10. Compare the % of each color with the actual percentages produced.
Explain why your results might be the same or different.