Problems 265

STATISTICS IN BUSINESS TODAY

Canadian Grocery Shopping Statistics
A study of 1,000 adult Canadians was conducted by the
Environics Research Group in a recent year in behalf of
Master Card Worldwide to ascertain information about
Canadian shopping habits. Canadian shopping activities
were divided into two core categories: 1.) the “quick” trip
for traditional staples, convenience items, or snack foods,
and 2.) the “stock-up” trip that generally occurs once per
week and is approximately two and a half times longer
than a quick trip. As a result, many interesting statistics
were reported. Canadians take a mean of 37 stock-up trips
per year, spending an average of 44 minutes in the store,
and they take a mean of 76 quick trips per year, spending
an average of 18 minutes in the store. Forty-six percent of
households with kids usually take them on quick trips as
do 51% on stock-up trips. On average, Canadians spend
four times more money on a stock-up trip than on a quick
trip. Some other interesting statistics from this survey
include: 23% often buy items that are not on their list but
catch their eye, 28% often go to a store to buy an item that
is on sale, 24% often switch to another checkout lane to
get out faster, and 45% often bring their own bag. Since
these statistics are based on a sample of 1,000 shoppers, it
is virtually certain that the statistics given here are point
estimates.
Source: 2008 MASTERINDEX Report: Checking Out the Canadian Grocery
Shopping Experience, located at: http://www.mastercard.com/ca/wce/PDF/
TRANSACTOR_REPORT_E.pdf

8.2 PROBLEMS 8.13 Suppose the following data are selected randomly from a population of normally
distributed values.
40 51 43 48 44 57 54
39 42 48 45 39 43

Construct a 95% confidence interval to estimate the population mean.

8.14 Assuming x is normally distributed, use the following information to compute a 90%
confidence interval to estimate m.
313 320 319 340 325 310
321 329 317 311 307 318

8.15 If a random sample of 41 items produces x = 128.4 and s = 20.6, what is the 98%
confidence interval for m? Assume x is normally distributed for the population. What
is the point estimate?
8.16 A random sample of 15 items is taken, producing a sample mean of 2.364 with a
sample variance of .81. Assume x is normally distributed and construct a 90%
confidence interval for the population mean.
8.17 Use the following data to construct a 99% confidence interval for m.
16.4 17.1 17.0 15.6 16.2
14.8 16.0 15.6 17.3 17.4
15.6 15.7 17.2 16.6 16.0
15.3 15.4 16.0 15.8 17.2
14.6 15.5 14.9 16.7 16.3

Assume x is normally distributed. What is the point estimate for m?

8.18 According to Runzheimer International, the average cost of a domestic trip for
business travelers in the financial industry is $1,250. Suppose another travel industry
research company takes a random sample of 51 business travelers in the financial
industry and determines that the sample average cost of a domestic trip is $1,192,
with a sample standard deviation of $279. Construct a 98% confidence interval for
the population mean from these sample data. Assume that the data are normally
distributed in the population. Now go back and examine the $1,250 figure published
by Runzheimer International. Does it fall into the confidence interval computed
from the sample data? What does it tell you?
8.19 A valve manufacturer produces a butterfly valve composed of two semicircular plates
on a common spindle that is used to permit flow in one direction only. The
semicircular plates are supplied by a vendor with specifications that the plates be
266 Chapter 8 Statistical Inference: Estimation for Single Populations

2.37 millimeters thick and have a tensile strength of five pounds per millimeter. A
random sample of 20 such plates is taken. Electronic calipers are used to measure
the thickness of each plate; the measurements are given here. Assuming that the
thicknesses of such plates are normally distributed, use the data to construct a 95%
level of confidence for the population mean thickness of these plates. What is the
point estimate? How much is the error of the interval?
2.4066 2.4579 2.6724 2.1228 2.3238
2.1328 2.0665 2.2738 2.2055 2.5267
2.5937 2.1994 2.5392 2.4359 2.2146
2.1933 2.4575 2.7956 2.3353 2.2699
8.20 Some fast-food chains offer a lower-priced combination meal in an effort to attract
budget-conscious customers. One chain test-marketed a burger, fries, and a drink
combination for $1.71. The weekly sales volume for these meals was impressive.
Suppose the chain wants to estimate the average amount its customers spent on a meal
at their restaurant while this combination offer was in effect. An analyst gathers data
from 28 randomly selected customers. The following data represent the sample meal
totals.
$3.21 5.40 3.50 4.39 5.60 8.65 5.02 4.20 1.25 7.64
3.28 5.57 3.26 3.80 5.46 9.87 4.67 5.86 3.73 4.08
5.47 4.49 5.19 5.82 7.62 4.83 8.42 9.10
Use these data to construct a 90% confidence interval to estimate the population
mean value. Assume the amounts spent are normally distributed.
8.21 The marketing director of a large department store wants to estimate the average
number of customers who enter the store every five minutes. She randomly selects
five-minute intervals and counts the number of arrivals at the store. She obtains the
figures 58, 32, 41, 47, 56, 80, 45, 29, 32, and 78. The analyst assumes the number of
arrivals is normally distributed. Using these data, the analyst computes a 95%
confidence interval to estimate the mean value for all five-minute intervals. What
interval values does she get?
8.22 Runzheimer International publishes results of studies on overseas business travel costs.
Suppose as a part of one of these studies the following per diem travel accounts (in
dollars) are obtained for 14 business travelers staying in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Use these data to construct a 98% confidence interval to estimate the average per diem
expense for business people traveling to Johannesburg. What is the point estimate?
Assume per diem rates for any locale are approximately normally distributed.
142.59 148.48 159.63 171.93 146.90 168.87 141.94
159.09 156.32 142.49 129.28 151.56 132.87 178.34
8.23 How much experience do supply-chain transportation managers have in their
field? Suppose in an effort to estimate this, 41 supply-chain transportation
managers are surveyed and asked how many years of managerial experience they
have in transportation. Survey results (in years) are shown below. Use these data
to construct a 99% confidence interval to estimate the mean number of years of
experience in transportation. Assume that years of experience in transportation is
normally distributed in the population.
5 8 10 21 20
25 14 6 19 3
1 9 11 2 3
13 2 4 9 4
5 4 21 7 6
3 28 17 32 2
25 8 13 17 27
7 3 15 4 16
6
8.24 Cycle time in manufacturing can be viewed as the total time it takes to complete a
product from the beginning of the production process. The concept of cycle time