Problem Set 1

Sampling: Sections 5.3, 5.4 & 5.5

Q1. A soft drink vending machine is set so that the amount of drink dispensed is a random variable
with a mean of 200 milliliters and a standard deviation of 15 milliliters. What is the probability that
the average (mean) amount dispensed in a random sample of size 36 is at least 204 milliliters?

(Ans: 0.0548)

Q2. The number of hours per week that high school seniors spend on homework is normally
distributed, with a mean of 10 hours and a standard deviation of 3 hours. 60 students are chosen
at random. Let Y represent the mean number of hours spent on homework for this group. Find
the probability that Y is between 9.8 and 10.4.

(Ans: 0.547)

Q3. A restaurant's receipts show that the cost of customers' dinners has a skewed distribution
with a mean of $54 and a standard deviation of $18. What is the probability that the next 100
customers will spend an average of at least $58 on dinner?

(Ans: 0.0132)

Q4. A questionnaire is sent to 10,000 persons. 5,000 responded to the questionnaire. 3,000 of
the respondents say that they "love chocolate ice cream". We conclude that 60% of people
love chocolate ice cream. What is wrong with this survey?

Q5. "7 out of 10 dentists recommend Brand X toothpaste". This finding is based on the
results of a survey of 10 randomly selected dentists. What is wrong with this survey?

Q6. "38% of adults in the United States regularly visit a doctor". This conclusion was
reached by a college student after she had questioned 520 randomly selected members of
her college. What is wrong with her survey?

Q7. The marks scored by five students in a test of Statistics carrying 100 marks are 50, 60, 50,
60 and 40. If a sample of size 4 is drawn without replacement, draw up the sampling
distribution of sample mean. Hence, find the standard error of the sample mean.

(Ans: 3.741)

Q8. A population has a mean of 0.1 and standard deviation of 2.1. Find the probability that the
mean of a random sample of size 900 will be negative.

(Ans: 0.0764)

Q9. If the random variables X, Y and Z have the means µx = 2, µy = -3 and µz = 4, the variances 1, 5
and 2 respectively and the covariances cov (X, Y) = -2, cov (X, Z) = -1 and cov (Y, Z) = 1, find the
mean and variance of W = 3X – Y + 2Z.
(Ans: 17, 18)

Q10. The inside diameter of a cylindrical tube is a random variable with a mean of 3 inches and a
standard deviation of 0.02 inch, the thickness of the tube is a random variable with a mean of 0.3
inch and the standard deviation of 0.005 inch, and the two random variables are independent.
Find the mean and the standard deviation of the outside diameter of the tube.

(Ans: mean = 3.6)

Q11. From the set of numbers {3, 5, 7}, a random sample of size 2 is drawn with replacement

I. List all possible samples and evaluate sample mean for each.
II. Determine the sampling distribution of sample mean

Q12. The weight of a pepperoni and cheese pizza from a local provider is a random variable whose
distribution is normal with mean 16 ounces and the standard deviation 1 ounce. You intend to
purchase four pepperoni and cheese pizzas. What is the probability that
I. The average weight of the four pizzas will be greater than 17.1 ounces?
II. The total weight of the four pizzas will not exceed 61.0 ounces?

(Ans: 0.0139, 0.0668)

Q13. Consider the population with mean 82 and the standard deviation 12.
I. If a random sample of size 64 is selected, what is the probability that the sample mean will
lie between 80.8 and 83.2?
II. With a random sample of size 100, what is the probability that the sample mean will lie
between 80.8 and 83.2?
III. How does the increase in sample size affect the probability?
x̄
(Ans: 0.5762, 0.6826)

Q14. The distribution of personal income of full time retail clerks working in a large eastern city
has µ = $31000 and standard deviation as $5000
I. What is the approximate distribution for based on a random sample of 100 persons?
II. Find the probability that is greater than $31500.
The Central Limit Theorem tells us that for a large sample size (n = 100), the distribution of the sample mean ( ) will
be approximately normal, even though the population distribution is skewed.
(Ans: 0.1587)

Q15. A population consists of the four numbers {0, 2, 4, 6}. Consider the statistic, sample
range R = Largest observation – smallest observation. For instance if the sample
observations are (2, 6), then R = 4.
I. Calculate the sample range for all possible samples
II. Determine the sampling distribution of R.

Q16. What sample size is required in order that the standard deviation of be:
I. ¼ of the population standard deviation?
II. 1/7 of the population standard deviation?
III. 12% of the population standard deviation?
(Ans: 16, 49, 70)

Q17. The time taken by a randomly selected applicant for a mortgage to fill out a certain form has a
normal distribution with mean value 10 min and standard deviation 2 mins. If five individuals fill
out a form on one day and six on another, what is the probability that the sample average amount
of time taken on each day is at most 11 mins?
P(x̄1 ≤ 11 and x̄2 ≤ 11) = P(x̄1 ≤ 11) * P(x̄2 ≤ 11) = 0.8686 * 0.8888 = 0.7701
(Ans: 0.7701)

Q18. Let X1, X2, X3 represent the times necessary to perform three successive repair tasks at a
certain service facility. Suppose they are independent, normal rv’s with expected values µ1, µ2 and
µ3 and variances as σ21, σ22, σ23 respectively. If mean value of all the variables is 60 and value of
variance as 15, calculate P(To ≤ 200) and P(150 ≤ T0 ≤ 200)?

(Ans: 0.9986, 0.9986)

Q19. Let X1, X2, X3 represent the times necessary to perform three successive repair tasks at a
certain service facility. Suppose they are independent, normal rv’s with expected values µ1, µ2 and
µ3 and variances as σ21, σ22, σ23 respectively. If means are 40, 50 and 60 and variances are 10, 12 and
14 respectively, calculate P(X1 + X2 + X3 ≤ 160) and also P(X1 + X2 ≥ 2X3).

(Ans: 0.9525, 0.0003)

Q20. A firm sells commodities X and Y at prices Rs. 10 and Rs. 2 respectively and a fixed cost C is
incurred in the process. If the expected sales and variance of X are 100 and 25 and for Y are 200
and 64 respectively, find the expected value and standard deviation of the revenue of firm given
that the covariance of sales of X and Y is -2.

(Ans: 1400, 2676)