Have you ever seen those games at carnivals or fairs where you have to guess how many candies are in a jar to win a prize? If you’re like most people, you’d probably rely on your intuition or a random guess to make your estimate. But what if there’s a way to use math to get a much more accurate answer?
That’s what TikTok user Stephan (@laplacemoncher) claims in his viral video, in which he shows a trick that can help you win the “candy game” using some calculations and one formula. The video was posted on Oct. 11, and has garnered more than 1.1 million views.
@laplacemoncher have you guys ever won this? #math #halloween #school ♬ Blade Runner 2049 – Synthwave Goose
In the video, Stephan uses a picture of a jar that appears to be filled with M&Ms as an example. To do this, he claims, you only need two things: The volume of the jar and the volume of the candies, adding “you should be able to find these things on Google.”
He continues, “I just found this jar, it’s 16 ounces and looks like the exact same one. I think the candies were M&M’s and those are gonna be 0.60 to 0.65 cubic centimeters. And we just need one final measurement. And that’s going to be the packing efficiency because this number tells us how much is going to be air and how much is actually the candy.”
Stephan says that the packing efficiency for M&Ms is 68 percent, meaning that 68 percent of the jar is M&Ms and the rest is air.
Then, he uses a formula to find the number of candies in the jar. “We divide the volume of the jar by the volume of the candy and multiply it by the packing efficiency. You may have to convert the units of the volume so that they’re the same, but we found that there are 515 candies inside the jar,” he says in the video.
“Using this strategy you should be able to win any prize you want,” Stephan concludes.
The video has received mixed reactions from viewers, as most weren’t so keen on doing calculations.
“Never mind, I don’t wanna win no more,” one user wrote.
“You lost me at MATH,” another commented.
“The only thing I won is a headache,” a third quipped.
The Daily Dot reached out to Stephan via TikTok direct messages for comment.