EXERCISE

1. The weights of a random sample of cereal boxes that are supposed to weigh 1 pound are
listed here. Assuming normality, estimate the variance of the entire population of cereal box
weights with 90% confidence.

1.05 1.03 0.98 1.00 0.99 0.97 1.01 0.96

2. A time study of a large production facility was undertaken to determine the mean time
required to assemble a cell phone. A random sample of the times to assemble 50 cell phones
was recorded. An analysis of the assembly times reveals that they are normally distributed
with a standard deviation of 1.3 minutes. Estimate with 95% confidence the mean assembly
time for all cell phones.

3. A dean of a business school wanted to know whether the graduates of her school used a
statistical inference technique during their first year of employment after graduation. She
surveyed 314 graduates and asked about the use of statistical techniques. After tallying up
the responses, she found that 204 used statistical inference within one year of graduation.
Estimate with 90% confidence the proportion of all business school graduates who use their
statistical education within a year of graduation.

4. A management professor was in the process of investigating the relationship between

education and managerial level achieved. The source of his data was a survey of 385 CEOs
of medium and large companies. He discovered that there was only one CEO who did not
have at least one university degree. Estimate (using a Wilson estimator) with 99%
confidence the proportion of CEOs of medium and large companies with no university
degrees.

5. The following data represent the number of audience members per week at a theater in
Paris during the last year. (The theater was closed for 2 weeks for refurbishment.)

163 165 094 137 123 095 170 096 117 129

152 138 147 119 166 125 148 180 152 149

167 120 129 159 150 119 113 147 169 151

116 150 110 110 143 090 134 145 156 165

174 133 128 100 086 148 139 150 145 100
Estimate the average weekly attendance with a 95% interval estimate.

6. During annual checkups physicians routinely send their patients to medical laboratories

to have various tests performed. One such test determines the cholesterol level in patients’
blood. However, not all tests are conducted in the same way. To acquire more information,
a man was sent to 10 laboratories and had his cholesterol level measured in each. The
results are listed here. Estimate with 95% confidence the variance of these measurements.

188 193 186 184 190 195 187 190 192 196

7. The quality-control manager of a chemical company randomly sampled twenty 100-

pound bags of fertilizer to estimate the variance in the pounds of impurities. The sample
variance was found to be 6.62. Assuming normality, find a 95% confidence interval for the
population variance in the pounds of impurities.

8. How much money do winners go home with from the television quiz show Jeopardy? To
determine an answer, a random sample of winners was drawn; the recorded amount of
money each won is listed here. Assuming normality, Estimate with 95% confidence the
mean winnings for all the show’s players.

26,650 6,060 52,820 8,490 13,660

25,840 49,840 23,790 51,480 18,960

990 11,450 41,810 21,060 7,860

9. A college admissions officer for an MBA program has determined that historically
applicants have undergraduate grade point averages that are normally distributed with
standard deviation 0.45. From a random sample of 25 applications from the current year, the

sample mean grade point average is 2.90.

a. Find a 95% confidence interval for the population mean.

b. Based on these sample results, a statistician computes for the population mean a
confidence interval extending from 2.81 to 2.99. Find the confidence level associated with
this interval.

10. It is important for airlines to follow the published scheduled departure times of flights.
Suppose that one airline that recently sampled the records of 246 flights originating in
Orlando found that 10 flights were delayed for severe weather, 4 flights were delayed for
maintenance concerns, and all the other flights were on time.

a. Estimate the percentage of on-time departures using a 98% confidence level.

b. Estimate the percentage of flights delayed for severe weather using a 98% confidence
level.

11. Everyone knows that exercise is important. Recently, employees of one large
international corporation were surveyed and asked, How many minutes do you spend daily
on some form of rigorous exercise? From a random sample of 25 employees, the mean time
spent on vigorous daily exercise was 28.5 minutes. The standard deviation was found to be
6.8 minutes. Find a 90% interval estimate of the mean daily time spent on rigorous exercise
by all employees.

12. A statistics practitioner working for major league baseball wants to supply radio and
television commentators with interesting statistics. He observed several hundred games and
counted the number of times a runner on first base attempted to steal second base. He found
there were 373 such events of which 259 were successful. Estimate with 95% confidence
the proportion of all attempted thefts of second base that are successful.

13. A manufacturer bonds a plastic coating to a metal surface. A random sample of nine
observations on the thickness of this coating is taken from a week’s output, and the
thicknesses (in millimeters) of these observations are as follows:

19.8 21.2 18.6 20.4 21.6 19.8 19.9 20.3 20.8

Assuming normality, find a 90% confidence interval for the population variance.

14. medical researcher wants to investigate the amount of time it takes for patients’
headache to be relieved after taking a new prescription painkiller. She plans to use statistical
methods to estimate the mean of the population of relief times. She believes that the
population is normally distributed with a standard deviation of 20 minutes. How large a
sample should she take to estimate the mean time to within 1 minute with 90% confidence?

15. A country club wants to poll a random sample of its 320 members to estimate the
proportion likely to attend an early-season function. The number of sample observations
should be sufficiently large to ensure that a 99% confidence interval for the population
extends at most 0.05 on each side of the sample proportion. How large of a sample is
necessary?

16. A business school placement director wants to estimate the mean annual salaries 5 years
after students graduate. A random sample of 25 such graduates found a sample mean of
$42,740 and a sample standard deviation of $4,780. Find a 90% confidence interval for the
population mean, assuming that the population distribution is normal.

17. A marketing research assistant for a veterinary hospital surveyed a random sample of
457 pet owners. Respondents were asked to indicate the number of times that they visit their
veterinarian each year. The sample mean response was 3.59 and the sample standard
deviation was 1.045. Based on these results, a confidence interval from 3.49 to 3.69 was
calculated for the population mean. Find the probability content for this interval.

18. An automobile dealer has an inventory of 328 used cars. The mean mileage of these
vehicles is to be estimated. Previous experience suggests that the population standard
deviation is likely to be about 12,000 miles. If a 90% confidence interval for the population
mean is to extend 2,000 miles on each side of the sample mean, how large of a sample is
required if simple random sampling is employed?

19. A random sample of 174 college students was asked to indicate the number of hours per
week that they surf the Internet for either personal information or material for a class
assignment. The sample mean response was 6.06 hours and the sample standard deviation
was 1.43 hours. Based on these results, a confidence interval extending from 5.96 to 6.16
was calculated for the population mean. Find the confidence level of this interval.

20. A medical statistician wants to estimate the average weight loss of people who are on a
new diet plan. In a preliminary study, he guesses that the standard deviation of the
population of weight losses is about 10 pounds. How large a sample should he take to
estimate the mean weight loss to within 2 pounds, with 90% confidence?