The Statistics of M&Ms

Charlotte Goldwater            Kenwood Academy
                               5015 S. Blackstone
                               Chicago IL 60645
                               (312) 535-1409

Objective:

The objective of this lesson is to analyze the contents of a bag of M&Ms 
mathematically.  This activity is appropriate for grades one through twelve.

Materials Needed:

One bag of M&Ms peanuts or plain, per student
One small plastic sandwich bag per student
One handout with a circle and a 6x8 grid
Several boxes of crayons
A protractor for each student

Strategy:

Have the students count or tally the number of each color.  On the grid, put the 
appropriate labels on the bottom and left.  Make a bar graph coloring a square 
for each M&M using a similar color. 

Do a mean, mode, and median analysis of the candy. 

Have students prepare the percentages of each color by dividing the total number 
of each color by the total number of the contents of the bag.  Calculate the 
number of degrees this would represent.  Multiply the percent of each color by 
360 degrees. 
 
Use a protractor to measure the number of degrees this represents.  Divide the 
circle accordingly.  Color the circle using the same color as candy being 
represented. 

Have the students share their numbers.  Compare them.  Save this data for 
comparisons with future classes results. 

Performance Assessment:

Depending on the level of the students or class you can evaluate the class 
through oral participation or in written follow up activities.