Gum Balls in a Jar

The Gum Balls in a Jar calculator computes the approximate number of Gum Ball sized candies that can be found in a cylindrical jar.

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose units and enter the following:

• (d) the diameter of the inside of the jar
• (h) the height of the candy in the jar
• Choose the type of candy.  Jelly Beans are the default candy, but the user can choose Mini Jelly Beans, Regular Jelly Beans, Jumbo sized Jelly Beans, M&Ms, Peanut M&Ms or Gum Balls.

Gum Balls in a Jar (GB): The calculator returns a very good estimate of the number of candies in the container. This is useful to guess how many jellybeans are in a jar.

The Math

People are not good a making estimates of the number of small objects in a volume, such as in this example.  This calculator goes about it scientifically.  First, the input parameters are used to compute the volume of the container holding the candies.   This is a straigh forward computation of the Volume of a Cylinder (CLICK HERE).  Then the volume is divided by the number of candies that fit into a standard size volume.  To get these numbers, a large number of the different kinds of candies were emptied into a half gallon measuring cup.  Then they were counted to see how many Jelly Bellys, regular jellybeans, jumbo jellybeans, M&Ms, Peanut M&Ms and finally gumballs fit in the half gallon container.  From there, it's just math.

Candies in a Container Calculators

The following calculators let you enter the dimensions of the container and return the number of candies for a list of different types of candies including: mini Jelly Bean, Jelly Beans, Jumbo sized Jelly Beans, M&Ms, Peanut M&Ms, Gum Balls, candy corn, pumpkin candies, Skittles, Tootsie Roll Midgees.

Candy Bowl Shape Calculators

• Candies in a Jar
• Candies in a Rectangular Container
• Candies in Spherical Container
• Candies in Tapered Rectangular Container
• Candies in Tapered Round Bowl
• Candies in Mason Jar
• Candies in Curved Bowl
• Candies in Irregular Container

Specific Candies

• Mini Jelly Beans in a Jar - Jelly Bellies are mini jelly beans.
• Jumbo Jelly Beans in a Jar
• M&M's in a Jar
• Peanut M&M's in a Jar
• Gum Balls in a Jar
• Jumbo Jelly Beans per Gallon
• M&M's per Gallon
• Peanut M&M's per Gallon
• Gum Balls per Gallon
• Candies in a Mason Jar
• Jelly Beans in a Mason Jar
• Mini Jelly Beans in a Mason Jar - Jelly Bellies are mini jelly beans.
• Jumbo Jelly Beans in a Mason Jar
• M&M's in a Mason Jar
• Peanut M&M's in a Mason Jar
• Gum Balls in a Mason Jar
• Candy Hearts in a Mason Jar

When you win ...

1. Give some of your winnings to Charity, and 
2. give vCalc a shout-out on social media.

References

• Light and Matter(Dr. Benjamin Crowell) Chapter 1.4 Order of magnitude estimates
• vCalc Blog: Counting Jelly Beans.  It's not cheating, just math.