Math Studies students considered this question in the context of independence testing. In a bag of animal biscuits, some are carnivores and others are herbivores; some will be broken and some will be undamaged.

On the surface, this seems a silly question because these two variables seem clearly independent. Yet some animal patterns contain long limbs or other fragile aspects in their design and thus may be more prone to breaking in the bag. So our question is more along the lines of … are the patterns of the lions and bears more prone to breaking than those of the rabbits and sheep?

The results are easily determined with a Chi-Squared Test for Independence. Consider asking a Math Studies student to walk you through this test… I bet they can.