MA2177 Exercise 7 – Chapter 7 Inferences about population mean (with  known)

1. A health researcher read that a 100-kg male can burn an average of 572 calories per hour
playing table tennis. Thirty-six males were randomly selected and tested. The mean of the
number of calories burned per hour was 557. Assume that the standard deviation for 100-kg
males in the population is 45 calories per hour. Test the claim that the average number of
calories burned per hour is actually less than 572. Use  = 0.01.

2. A survey taken several years ago found that the average time a person spent reading the local
daily newspaper was 10.8 minutes. The standard deviation of the population was 3 minutes.
To see whether the average time had increased since the newspaper’s format was revised, the
newspaper editor surveyed 36 individuals. The average time that the 36 people spent reading
the paper was 12.2 minutes. At α = 0.01, is there an increase in the average time an individual
spends reading the newspaper?

3. The quality-control manager at a light-bulb factory wants to know if the average life of a
large shipment of light bulbs is at least 375 hours. The process standard deviation is known
to be 100 hours. A random sample of 50 light bulbs indicates a sample average life of 350
hours. At the 0.05 level of significance, is there evidence that the average life is less than 375
hours?

4. A manufacturer states that the average lifetime of its television sets is more than 84 months.
The standard deviation of the population is 10 months. One hundred sets are randomly
selected and tested. The average lifetime of the sample is 85.1 months. Test the claim that the
average lifetime of the sets is more than 84 months at  = 0.01.

5. When it is operating properly, an assembly line has a mean daily production of at least 620
televisions. The output is measured on a simple random sample of 60 days. The sample had
a mean of 609 televisions per day. Assume   45 .
(i) Using   0.05 , is there significant evidence to show that the assembly line is not
operating properly?
(ii) Find a 99% confidence interval for the mean production of televisions per day from
the sample.

6. A biologist knows that the average length of a leaf of a certain full-grown plant is 4 inches.
The standard deviation of the population is 0.6 inch. A sample of 20 leaves of that type of
plant given a new type of plant food had an average length of 4.2 inches. Assume that the
variable is approximately normally distributed. Is there reason to believe that the new food is
responsible for a change in the growth of the leaves? Use α = 0.01.

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7. The average hourly wage last year for members of the hospital clerical staff in Hong Kong
was $62. The standard deviation of the population was $11.8. This year a sample of 50
workers had an average hourly wage of $65.1. At the 0.05 level of significance, is there
sufficient evidence to conclude that the average hourly wage has changed?

8. The daily yield for a local chemical plant has averaged 880 tons for the last several years.
The quality control manager would like to know whether this average has changed in recent
months. He randomly selects 55 days from the computer database and finds that the average
is 871 tons. Assume σ = 21 tons. Test the appropriate hypothesis using α = 0.05.

9. If you wish to estimate a population mean correct to within an error E = 0.2 with probability
0.95 and you know from prior sampling that  2 is approximately equal to 5.4, how many
observations would have to be included in your sample?