STATISTICS FOR BUSINESS

35. To better understand how husbands and wives feel about their finances, Money
Magazine
conducted a national poll of 1010 married adults age 25 and older with household
incomes
of $50,000 or more (Money Magazine website, December 14, 2014). Consider the
following
example set of responses to the question, “Who is better at getting deals?”
a. Develop a joint probability table and use it to answer the following questions.
b. Construct the marginal probabilities for Who Is better (I Am, My Spouse, We Are
Equal). Comment.
c. Given that the respondent is a husband, what is the probability that he feels he is
better
at getting deals than his wife?
d. Given that the respondent is a wife, what is the probability that she feels she is better
at getting deals than her husband?
e. Given a response “My spouse” is better at getting deals, what is the probability that
the response came from a husband?
f. Given a response “We are equal,” what is the probability that the response came from
a husband? What is the probability that the response came from a wife?

Solution:

Respondent Iam (I) My Spouse(S) We are equal Total

(E)
Husband (H) 0.2752
Wife (W) 0.2871
Total 0.5623

36. Jamal Crawford of the National basketball Association’s Portland Trail blazers is
the
best free-throw shooter on the team, making 93% of his shots (ESPN website, April 5,
2012). Assume that late in a basketball game, Jamal Crawford is fouled and is awarded
two shots.
a. What is the probability that he will make both shots?
b. What is the probability that he will make at least one shot?
c. What is the probability that he will miss both shots?

d. late in a basketball game, a team often intentionally fouls an opposing player in order
to stop the game clock. The usual strategy is to intentionally foul the other team’s
worst free-throw shooter. Assume that the Portland Trail blazers’ center makes 58%
of his free-throw shots. Calculate the probabilities for the center as shown in parts (a),
(b), and (c), and show that intentionally fouling the Portland Trail blazers’ center is a
better strategy than intentionally fouling Jamal Crawford. Assume as in parts (a), (b),
and (c) that two shots will be awarded.

Solution: