INSTITUTE OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

SXEX1101/SIX1003 – BIOSTATISTICS
Tutorial 4 (45 marks)

1. The compressive strength of concrete is being studied, and four different

mixing techniques are being investigated. The following data have been
collected.

Mixing Techniques Comprehensive Strength

1 3129 3000 2865 2890

2 3200 3300 2975 3150

3 2800 2900 2985 3050

4 2600 2700 2600 2765

i) Test the hypothesis that mixing techniques affect the strength of the
concrete. Use α = 0.05.
ii) If there are differences between the means, conduct a post-hoc test
using
a) LSD
b) DMRT
(15 marks)

2. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of air voids on

percentage retained strength of asphalt. For purposes of the experiment,
air voids are controlled at three levels; low (2–4%), medium (4–6%), and
high (6–8%). The data are shown in the following table.

Air Voids Retained Strength %

Low 106 90 103 90 79 88 92 95
Medium 80 69 94 91 70 83 87 83
High 78 80 62 69 76 85 69 85

i) Do the different levels of air voids significantly affect mean retained

strength? Use α = 0.01.
ii) If there are differences between the means, conduct a post-hoc test
using
a) LSD
b) DMRT

(15 marks)

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3. Four taxonomists (T1 – T4) were asked to measure the body weight of
fishes in an experiment which involve five different food types (F1 – F5).
Determine whether the food types influence the body weight based on the
following results:

Body weight (g)

Food types
T1 T2 T3 T4
F1 201 224 251 203
F2 303 325 316 299
F3 433 447 442 418
F4 499 523 540 530
F5 411 431 406 402

Test the hypothesis at significant level of 0.05. If there are differences

between the means, conduct a post-hoc test using DMRT.

(15 marks)