We have all shared a stick of gum, a jelly bean or an M & M with a friend (unless you are a horrible person).

We all remember having to learn math and basic algebra in primary or high school, but have you ever used that skill?

I did and now I appreciate each M & M (mm), jelly bean, stick of gum, etc. more than ever. Here’s why… I did the math.

A regular sized package of M & Ms candies (peanut of course) weighs 1.74 oz, but who eats M & M’s by weight? Nobody. The one I got recently had 21 M&M’s in it. A much more reasonable metric. So we have two metrics now, 1.74 oz =21 M & Ms. Now we know each mm weighs 1.74 oz / 21 M & M about 0.083 oz.

If you buy them for $1.25 that comes to about (1.25/21) 6¢ per mm (how often do you get to use the ¢ symbol?). If you buy  from the on campus vending machine for $1.40 they cost (1.4/21) 6.67¢. yes that is 10% more! but you actually never pay a fraction of a penny, so round up. 7 cents becomes a 17% price difference.

To find the per ounce price we divide the cost per mm by the weight per M & M. 6.67¢/0.083 oz is 80¢ per ounce on campus! If we got the $1.25 bag it is 73¢ per ounce. Still a ten percent difference despite rounding.

Now if we compare the per ounce price to Amazon’s 42 oz. bag for $9.39 that reduces to 22¢ per ounce! Let’s find out how much they cost per M & M, 22¢/oz x 0.083 oz/M & M= 1.8¢

So if we purchase from a store for $1.25 we can save about a penny per M & M. If we purchase the big bag, we save 4 cents each time we eat an M&M.

Now every M&M you eat from now on will either taste like guilt, or winning.

You’re welcome.

*I accept no liability for weight gain resulting from eating M & Ms based on cost.

Do the math on your favorite treat and share in the comments.