1. Pascal, Inc.

, a computer store that buys wholesale, untested computer chips, is considering

switching to another supplier who would provide tested and guaranteed chips for a higher
price. In order to determine if this is a cost-effective plan, Pascal must determine the
proportion of faulty chips that the current supplier provides. A sample of 200 chips was
tested and of these, 5 percent were found to be defective.
(a) Estimate the standard error of the proportion of defective chips.
(b) Construct a 98 percent confidence interval for the proportion of defective chips
supplied.
Estimation of Proportion
Proportion
     
Sample Size 200.00  
Sample Proportion 0.05  
Choose Level of confidence   98.00%
Standard Error   0.01541104
Lower Upper
Confidence Interval Limit Limit
0.0359 0.0141 0.0859

2. When a sample of 70 retail executives was surveyed regarding the poor November
performance of the retail industry, 65 percent believed that decreased sales were due to
unseasonably warm temperatures, resulting in consumers’ delaying purchase of cold-weather
items.
Estimate the standard error of the proportion of retail executives who blame warm weather for
low sales.
Find the upper and lower confidence limits for this proportion, given a confidence level equal
to 0.95.
Estimation of Proportion
Proportion
     
Sample Size 70.00  
Sample Proportion 0.65  
Choose Level of confidence   95.00%
Standard Error   0.05700877
Lower Upper
Confidence Interval Limit Limit
0.1117 0.5383 0.7617

3. The product manager for the new lemon-lime Clear ’n Light dessert topping was worried
about both the product’s poor performance and her future with Clear ‘n Light. Concerned
that her marketing strategy had not properly identified the attributes of the product, she
sampled 1,500 consumers and learned that 956 thought that the product was a floor wax.
Estimate the standard error of the proportion of people holding this severe misconception
about the dessert topping.
Construct a 96 percent confidence interval for the true population proportion.
Estimation of Proportion
 
Proportion
     
Sample Size 1,500.00  
0.63733333
Sample Proportion 3  
Choose Level of confidence   96.00%
 0.0124134
Standard Error   2
Confidence Interval Lower Limit Upper
Limit
0.0255 0.6118 0.6628

4. Michael Gordon, a professional basketball player, shot 200 foul shots and made 174 of them,
Estimate the standard error of the proportion of all foul shots that Michael makes.
Construct a 98 percent confidence interval for the proportion of all foul shots that Michael
makes.
Estimation of Proportion
 
Proportion
     
Sample Size 200.00  
Sample Proportion 0.875  
Choose Level of confidence   98.00%
Standard Error   0.02338536
Lower Upper
Confidence Interval Limit Limit
0.0544 0.8206 0.9294

5. Dr. Benjamin Shockley, a noted social psychologist, surveyed 150 top executives and found
that 42 percent of them were unable to add fractions correctly.
Estimate the standard error of the proportion.
Construct a 99 percent confidence interval for the true proportion of top executives who
cannot correctly add fractions.
Estimation of Proportion
Proportion
Sample Size 150.00  
Sample Proportion 0.42  
Choose Level of confidence   99.00%
Standard Error   0.04029888
Lower Upper
Confidence Interval Limit Limit
0.1038 0.3162 0.5238