Unconventional holiday traditions are fun for the whole family! So far this year, my family has celebrated Hanukkah by launching rockets indoors and constructing small boats in order to sink them. Today we’re delving deeper, into the very language of science. That’s right; it’s math time.
Roger Bacon said, “Mathematics is the gate and key of the sciences. … Neglect of mathematics works injury to all knowledge, since he who is ignorant of it cannot know the other sciences or the things of this world.” After today’s celebration, my son says, “Mmm, delicious math!”
The instructions for this experiment are simple (materials are in bold):
- First, open a small bag of multi-colored candies.
- Count the candies, and note on a chart how many candies were in the bag.
- Sort candies by color and note on the chart how many candies you have of each color.
- Repeat several times! (We opened eight bags, one at a time to avoid mixing candies.)
- For fun, chart total candies, average candies per bag, and percent of each color.
- Translate your data into a bar graph, line graph, and pie chart for easy comparisons.
- Analyze and discuss your data before devouring the samples!
