Tutorial – Sampling Distributions and Confidence Intervals

Question 1:

In order to calculate the realistic price for a repair contract, a manager recorded the time taken for a
random sample of 8 recent repairs. The times (in minutes) were 54, 78, 43, 61, 92, 48, 65, and 71.

Produce a 95% confidence interval for the true mean repair time.

(Ans: 50.5, 77.5)

Question 2:

A machine produces components whose diameters have a normal distribution with mean 380 mm and
standard deviation 4 mm. Components with diameters outside the range 372 mmm and 386 mmm
cannot be used and are scrapped.

a) What proportion of component is scrapped?

b) What is the diameter that 34.5% of components exceed?
c) A batch of components includes 1,682 with diameters below 384 mmm. How many
components are there likely to be in this batch?

(Ans: 8.96%, 34.5% and 84.13%, 2000)

Question 3:

The duration of a ferry crossing is normally distributed with mean 50 minutes and standard deviation 4
minutes.

a) Calculate the probability that a randomly selected crossing lasts more than 56 minutes.
b) Calculate the probability that a randomly selected crossing lasts between 48 and 54
minutes.

(Ans: 0.0668, 0.5328)

Question 4:

A product goes through two process – forming and finishing. 10% of the items are damaged in the
forming process. Of the items damaged in the forming process, 20% are not finished satisfactorily. Of
the items not damaged in the forming process, 10% are not finished satisfactorily.

a) Prepare a cross table to show the above information.

b) Calculate the probability that an item selected at random will be undamaged and finished
satisfactorily.
 c) Calculate the probability that an item selected at random will be damaged and not finished
satisfactorily.

(Ans: 0.81, 0.02)

Question 5:

The weight of containers manufactured for a chemical company have a normal distribution with mean
100g and standard deviation 4 g.

a) Find the probability that a randomly selected container weighs more than 106 g.
b) Batches of 100 containers are selected at random for dispatch to the chemical company.
(i) Calculate the mean and standard deviation of the total weight of a batch of 100
containers.
(ii) Find the probability that a batch of 100 containers selected at random has a total
weight of less than 9.95 kg.

(Ans: 0.0688, 10 kg, 0.04 kg and 0.1056)