Assignment - 01 (Statistical Inference)

Spring - 2025
Due Date: 13.03.2025 Weight: 05%

Q1. The restaurant management tells its customers that the average cost of dinner is Rs. 500 with a
standard deviation of Rs. 75. A group of concerned customers think that the average cost is higher.
To test the restaurant claims, 100 customers purchase dinner at the store and the mean price is Rs.
520. Perform a hypothesis test at 1% level of significance.
Q2. A random sample of 12 shearing pins is taken in a study of the Rockwell hardness of the pin head.
Measurements on the Rockwell hardness are made for each of the 12, yielding an average value of
48.50 with a sample standard deviation of 1.5. Assuming the measurements to be normally
distributed, construct a 90% confidence interval for the mean Rockwell hardness .
Q3. A large chain of supermarkets sells 5000 packets of cereal in each of its stores each month. It
decides to test-market a different brand of cereal in 15 of its stores. After a month the 15 stores sold
an average of 5200 packets each, with a standard deviation of 500 packets. Test the hypothesis that
𝜇 > 5,000 at 0.05 level of significance.
Q4. An electrical firm manufactures light bulbs that have a length of life that is approximately normally
distributed, with a mean equal to 800 hours and a standard deviation of 40 hours. Find the
probability that a random sample of 16 bulbs will have an average life of less than 775 hours.
Q5. The production manager of Northern Windows, Inc., has asked you to evaluate a proposed new
procedure for producing its Regal line of double-hung windows. The present process has a mean
production of 80 units per hour with a population standard deviation of 𝜎 = 8. The manager does
not want to change to a new procedure unless there is strong evidence that the mean production
level is higher with the new process. A random sample of 50 resulted in a sample mean of 100. Test
the hypothesis that the mean production level is higher with the new process at 0.01 level of
significance.
Q6. A machine produces metal pieces that are cylindrical in shape. A sample of pieces is taken, and the
diameters are found to be 1.01, 0.97, 1.03, 1.04, 0.99, 0.98, 0.99, 1.01, and 1.03 centimeters. Find
a 99% confidence interval for the mean diameter of pieces from this machine, assuming an
approximately normal distribution.
Q7. To test a two-tailed test, a random sample of n = 24 is obtained from a population that is known to
be normally distributed with σ = 12, and we got a sample mean of 47.1. Will the null hypothesis be
rejected at 0.05 level of significance if the population mean is 50? Use the p-value approach.
Q8. A sample of 25 workers found the average overtime hours worked in the previous week was 7.8,
with a standard deviation of 4.1 hours. Test the hypothesis that the average for all workers is 5 hours
or less. Use a 0.05 level of significance.
Q9. In a market study for BGI, a local department store, you select a sample of 60 actual and potential
clients to interview. Among the questions you wish to answer is whether the clients and non- clients
differ in their incomes. The table below gives summary statistics. Can you conclude that there is a
 difference in the mean incomes of clients and non- clients? Use α = 0.05.

Clients Non-Clients
Mean income (in $1000s) 58.7 50.4
Standard deviations (in $1000s) 16.8 9.8

Number 29 31

Q10. The average zinc concentration recovered from a sample of measurements taken in 36 different
locations in a river is found to be 2.6 grams per milliliter. Find the 95% and 99% confidence
intervals for the mean zinc concentration in the river. Assume that the population standard deviation
is 0.3 gram per milliliter. What would be the effect on the margin of error when the confidence
coefficient is increased from 95% to 99%?
Q11. The Economic Policy Institute periodically issues reports on worker’s wages. The institute reported
that mean wages for male college graduates were $37.39 per hour and for female college graduates
were $27.83 per hour in 2017. Assume the standard deviation for male graduates is $4.60, and for
female graduates it is $4.10.
1. What is the probability that a sample of 50 male graduates will provide a sample mean
within $1.00 of the population mean, $37.39?
2. What is the probability that a sample of 50 female graduates will provide a sample mean
within $1.00 of the population mean, $27.83?
3. In which of the preceding two cases, part (a) or part (b), do we have a higher probability
of obtaining a sample estimate within $1.00 of the population mean? Why?
Q12. A simple random sample of 40 items resulted in a sample mean of 25. The population standard
deviation is 5.
1. What is the standard error of mean?
2. At 95% confidence, what is the margin of error?
Q13. A 95% confidence interval for a population mean was reported to be 152 to 160. If 𝜎 = 15, what
sample size was used in this study?
Q14. A manufacturer claims that the average tensile strength of thread A exceeds the average tensile
strength of thread B by at least 12 kilograms. To test this claim, 50 pieces of each type of thread
were tested under similar conditions. Type A thread had an average tensile strength of 86.7
kilograms with a standard deviation of 6.28 kilograms, while type B thread had an average tensile
strength of 77.8 kilograms with a standard deviation of 5.61 kilograms. Test the manufacturer’s
claim using a 0.05 level of significance.
Q15. A group of students’ marks on two tests, before and after instruction, were as follows:

Student 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Before 14 16 11 8 20 19 6 11 13 16 9 13
 After 15 18 15 11 19 18 9 12 16 16 12 13

Test the hypothesis that the instruction has no effect on students’ marks at 0.05 level of significance.
Q16. The following measurements were recorded for the drying time, in hours, of a certain brand of
latex paint:
3.4, 2.5, 4.8, 2.9, 3.6,2.8 ,3.3 ,5.6 ,3.7, 2.8,4.4, 4.0, 5.2, 3.0, 4.8.
Assuming that the measurements represent a random sample from a normal population, find a 95%
confidence interval for the drying time for the next trial of the paint.
Q17. Suppose a new production method will be implemented if a hypothesis test supports the conclusion
that the new method reduces the mean operating cost per hour.
1. State the appropriate null and alternative hypotheses if the mean cost for the current
production method is $220 per hour.
2. What is the Type I error in this situation? What are the consequences of making this error?
3. What is the Type II error in this situation? What are the consequences of making this error?
Q18. The heights of 1000 students are approximately normally distributed with a mean of 174.5
centimeters and a standard deviation of 6.9 centimeters. Suppose random samples of size 25 are
drawn from this population. Determine:
1. The mean and standard deviation of the sampling distribution of mean.
2. The number of samples means falling between 172.5 and 175.8 centimeters inclusive.
3. The number of samples means falling below 172.0 centimeters.
Q19. On 12 randomly selected cars, one of each type of tyre is installed on the rear wheels and, as before,
the cars are driven until the tyres wear out. The number of kilometers until wear-out occurred is
shown in the following table. Can we conclude from these data that the new-design tyre is superior
at 0.05 level of significance?

Car New Design Existing Design Car New Design Existing Design
1 65 56 7 108 106
2 72 58 8 98 94
3 110 97 9 91 86
4 70 64 10 92 98
5 90 87 11 94 106
6 95 83 12 70 66

Q20. Amstat News (December 2004) lists median salaries for associate professors of statistics at research
institutions and at liberal arts and other institutions in the United States. Assume that a sample of
200 associate professors from research institutions has an average salary of $70,750 per year with
a standard deviation of $6000. Assume also that a sample of 200 associate professors from other
types of institutions has an average salary of $65,200 with a standard deviation of $5000. Test the
hypothesis that the mean salary for associate professors in research institutions is $2000 higher than
for those in other institutions. Use a 0.01 level of significance.