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Percent of Color in M&M Bags

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How Many of Each Color Are In the Bag?

We set out to solve this intriguing question.

And you can participate in this 'scientific' experiment, adding your real world knowledge to what, undoubtedly, will become one of those eternal questions we all ask such as, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll lollipop?"

We encourage you to go out into the big world and buy yourself or your beloveds a bag of M&Ms, sit down in a nice comfy spot, tear the bag open, sort them into color, and resist immediate consumption for the good of all humanity.

Table of Contents

  1. The Origins and Genetics of this Epic Journey
  2. Happy Stuff
  3. Plain or Peanut? That Is the Question.
  4. Why Is Your Choice the Only Logical One?
  5. Our Results
  6. My Lenses
  7. How Can Something So Sweet Cause A War?
  8. How to Contribute to this Worthwhile Study.
  9. Your Results - Enter Them Here.
  10. Fun Links

The Origins and Genetics of this Epic Journey

The ThinkerOne day, I was minding my own business when I was suddenly confronted with an outlandish claim for the percentage of blue M&Ms in a bag of the notorious candies.

This led to much discussion between friends over the next couple of weeks, and yet we did not pursue debunking the figures I had seen.

Until yesterday when, on the way past a Dollar General store, doing errands, we got an insatiable craving for M&Ms which were at a pretty darn good deal that day.

Upon arrival at our destination we took the time to sit at a table in the shade and proceeded to do intensive investigation concerning this matter.

I am pleased to report that the first of many gatherings of data are going to be reported in this lens. I am hoping that if all of America pulls together, we can answer this burning question, once and for all.

What percentage of blue M&Ms actually is delivered in the final packaging that the global population receives?

Happy Stuff

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Plain or Peanut? That Is the Question.

Plain or Peanut

Well, the 'other' question, anyhow.

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Why Is Your Choice the Only Logical One?

If only the whole world saw things my way, the universe would be at peace. Here is why plain, peanut, or "Give me both lest I die!" is the only serious choice.

  • ScrollSawChuck Feb 9, 2012 @ 4:18 pm | delete
    I'll take the peanut because I get the health benefits of the peanut and the chocolate which fulfils my gobbling obligation in two of the food groups for the day...I think.
  • poutine Jan 20, 2012 @ 12:24 pm | delete
    I take them all.
  • bruzzbuzz Jan 3, 2012 @ 8:49 am | delete
    Peanut is good but I always prefer plain.
  • MintySea Nov 3, 2011 @ 9:17 pm | delete
    I will take plain or peanuty, any color :-)
  • Lifeboost Nov 1, 2011 @ 3:43 pm | delete
    Plain is too ... well, plain. Peanut is more...peanutty. And I like peanuts! :)
  • goo2eyes Oct 30, 2011 @ 9:08 am | delete
    peanut flavor has more taste
  • jseven Oct 29, 2011 @ 2:14 am | delete
    I would like them with pecans in them! Lol, good lens.
  • food_monkey Oct 27, 2011 @ 6:17 pm | delete
    I them all! I guess if I were to pick a favorite it would be peanut :)
  • JanezKranjski Oct 3, 2011 @ 11:36 am | delete
    I like M&M's the way I like people - in all kind of colors.
  • Jolene_Belmain Oct 1, 2011 @ 11:10 pm | delete
    I don't like the way the plain ones taste... but the peanut ones??? OMG!!! So good :)
  • LNAngel Oct 1, 2011 @ 2:39 pm | delete
    Prefer peanut vs. plain, but given a Peanut Butter option, I'd take that every time!
  • cffutah Sep 27, 2011 @ 9:40 pm | delete
    Peanut gives me more to do in my mouth.
  • ViJuvenate Sep 26, 2011 @ 1:23 pm | delete
    Depends on what mood I am in. Sometimes I like plain and sometimes peanut. Both are great!
  • Tipi Sep 25, 2011 @ 11:12 pm | delete
    Its all for the good of humanity!
  • LabKitty Aug 8, 2011 @ 12:34 pm | delete
    Yay Science!
  • sushilkin Jul 21, 2011 @ 4:36 am | delete
    Nice Lens Thanks for sharing
  • jasminesphotography Jun 26, 2011 @ 4:11 pm | delete
    Out of your choices, I like plain. But peanut butter M&Ms are the best. :)
  • JoanneOtt Jun 12, 2011 @ 3:26 am | delete
    Yes.... anything with chocolate! I love them with or without the peanuts.
  • Sunflower_Susan Jun 4, 2011 @ 11:26 am | delete
    Because chocolate of any kind is high on my list of priorities.
Show All

Our Results

June 4, 2011. Large bag. Peanut. 178 total candies.

8.99% brown

9.55% red

17.98% blue

19.66% orange

21.91% yellow

21.91% green

October 16, 2011. Small bag. Peanut Butter. 27 total candies. (Thanks, Aquavel!)

7.4% black

11.1% yellow

22.2% red

22.2% orange

22.2% green

22.2% blue

November 11, 2011. Medium bag. Plain. 409 total candies.

10.02% yellow

11.49% green

12.96% brown

13.69% red

24.69% blue

27.14% orange

My Lenses

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How Can Something So Sweet Cause A War?

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How to Contribute to this Worthwhile Study.

Colors1. Purchase a bag, be it small, large, plain, peanut or other.

2. Find someone you love to share the experience with, or set up a distraction for them so they can't eat any of the data.

3. Open the bag.

4. Pour them all out.

5. Eat the fragments. If one is whole but just has a chip off, don't eat that, but anything less than about 75% whole doesn't count.

6. Count the entire number and record the total.

7. Sort them into piles by color.

8. Count each color and record the data.

9. To find the percentage that each color is of the whole, get a calculator.

10. Divide the number of a color by the total of all the candies, then multiply that by 100. round off the result to two decimal places.

For example - in our bag we had 178 total whole candies. There were 16 brown. So the formula is this. 16 divided by 178 (0.0898876), then multiplied by 100 (8.98876), then rounded off to become the final percentage which is 8.99%.

Please post your results below, recording the type of M&M you purchases, the total number of whole candies, and the percentage of each color in the bag.

Your Results - Enter Them Here.

These will occassionally be combined with others to average the data.

Date.
Size Bag.
Type of Candy.
Total number of Candies.

Percentages by candy color.

Go. Save the world.

Excellent! Aquavel, has gone bananas with her peanut butter M&Ms. This is important news! Go give her a huge thanks for being an M&M hero at Going Bananas!

  • Lifeboost Nov 1, 2011 @ 3:46 pm | delete
    Oh, I LOVE this lens!! And I can't wait for tomorrow to go buy a bag of M & M's to contribute to this remarkable study! I wonder if there's any difference between the contents of the bags you get in the US, and the ones we get here.....
  • Sunflower_Susan Nov 2, 2011 @ 9:09 am | delete
    The world waits breathlessly for your chocolatey results. Actually... you bring up a very interesting question! I bet they have people in lab coats holding clipboards taking fervent notes on color preferences between cultures. They study EVERYthing in the name of the dollar, or pound? LOL
  • goo2eyes Oct 30, 2011 @ 9:10 am | delete
    m & m's can sate the hunger
  • Sunflower_Susan Nov 2, 2011 @ 9:06 am | delete
    In a very tasty way.
  • Aquavel Oct 17, 2011 @ 12:59 am | delete
    My sister and I have had a life long passion for M&Ms. In the old days, our favorites were the rare red ones, but now, of course, it's the blue ones that are extra special.
    I bought a small bag earlier today. I'm opening it now. Here's the breakdown:
    10/16/2011
    1.63 oz. 46.2 g
    Peanut Butter M&MS
    Total: 27 candies
    3 Y (11.1%), 6 R (22.2%), 4 Or.(22.2%) 6 Gr.(22.2%), 6 Blue (22.2%), 2 Black (7.4%) ~What I learned from this process is: Peanut Butter M&Ms have no yellow or tan/brown colors in the bag. At least my bag didn't.
  • Sunflower_Susan Oct 17, 2011 @ 6:53 am | delete
    Very interesting discovery, Aquavel! Perhaps they thought it would be redundant... or there is something more sinister afoot. We will keep an eye on this development.
  • riff999 Oct 13, 2011 @ 3:12 am | delete
    Fun! Blessed.
  • Sunflower_Susan Oct 17, 2011 @ 6:54 am | delete
    Thanks so much, Riff!
  • Jolene_Belmain Oct 1, 2011 @ 11:11 pm | delete
    Very original lens... I personally like the peanut ones (never cared for the original ones) but since they've come out with the pretzel ones, they are pretty good as well.
  • Sunflower_Susan Oct 1, 2011 @ 11:15 pm | delete
    I'm having a hard time getting excited about those pretzel ones... seems dry...
  • cffutah Sep 27, 2011 @ 9:41 pm | delete
    glad I browsed into your lens, really cool topic and liked the poll questions. If you like to browse lens too, mine has a great educational topic with poll questions for my readers to enjoy.
  • Sunflower_Susan Oct 1, 2011 @ 11:15 pm | delete
    I did check it out and squid-liked it!
  • JoshK47 Sep 27, 2011 @ 1:00 pm | delete
    Very interesting... I may need to go get some M&M's... for science, and all.
  • Sunflower_Susan Oct 1, 2011 @ 11:14 pm | delete
    I and all of my descendants will be forever and humbly grateful.
  • Tipi Sep 25, 2011 @ 11:17 pm | delete
    Hmmm, I know its for the good of humanity and I do feel like I'm letting the whole wide world down but I'm just too tired to run to the store right now but will promise to count M&Ms in my sleep instead of sheep. I think there should be more red ones, can't believe there were more green than red by such a big gap, I'll have to research this myself!
  • Sunflower_Susan Sep 25, 2011 @ 11:25 pm | delete
    I was going to add our latest batch from a month or so ago, but my precious child had deleted the recorded numbers from his iphone. Guess we'll have to suffer through a do-over.
  • ideadesigns Sep 25, 2011 @ 9:42 pm | delete
    You sure know how to make this fun! I need to get me a bag of mm's.
  • Sunflower_Susan Sep 25, 2011 @ 11:24 pm | delete
    Just remember, your sacrifice will be for the greater good!
Show All

Fun Links

Have an M&M Merry Christmas
1930's and 1940's:Forrest Mars, Senior founder of the Mars Company, got the idea for the candies during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.

by

Sunflower_Susan

Hello!
Having some fun here, I hope you join in and have a good time as well!
Bunches of Bouquets,
Sunflower Susan

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