The Middlesex, Math and the Mouse Club from Middlesex County College (MCC) recently visited Disney World in Florida for research purposes.
Club advisor Patty Kiernan of Metuchen and students Shayne Judge of Piscataway, Alyssa Capone of South Plainfield, Lauren Sutphen of Port Reading and Claudia Brzoza of Sayreville had been investigating ways to use statistics to predict wait times for rides.
During the Fall 2016 semester, they had heard from Len Testa, an author of books on the subject, according to information provided by the college.
The club was created to provide students a nonthreatening, practical application of material taught in Statistics courses at MCC by allowing students to analyze and gather real data at Walt Disney World in Florida.
Club members learned there is no reason to count calories when you’re on vacation at the theme park, according to MCC. The data suggest that adult women can eat more than 3,700 calories per day and lose weight, if they are over 150 pounds and spend six hours actively touring the parks.
Another research project involved predicting the wait times of lines and creating a plan to avoid waiting in the longest ones. The club members were able to complete a challenge of four parks in one day, which requires visits to all four parks and completion of at least two-thirds of the major attractions in each park in less than 12 hours.
The club is in the process of creating a searchable database that will allow students and faculty to access all of the data gathered from the trip.