Tutorial 3 Sampling Distribution and Confidence Interval

SUBJECT: Applied Statistics -TUTORIAL 3-

CODE : BCT 2053
CHAPTER 3
1. A survey of 30 adults found that the mean age of a persons primary vehicle is 5.6 years.
Assuming the standard deviation of the population is 0.8 year; find the best point estimate of
the population mean and the 90% confidence interval of the population mean.

2. The college president asks the statistics teacher to estimate the average age of the students at
their college. How large a sample is necessary? The statistics teacher would like to be 99%
confident that the estimate should be accurate within 1 year. From a previous study, the
standard deviation of the ages is known to be 3 years.

3. A random sample of 6 items taken from a normal population with mean and variance 4.5
cm2 gave the following data:
Samples data: 12.9 cm, 13.2 cm, 14.6 cm, 12.6 cm, 11.3 cm, 10.1 cm.

a. Find the 95% confidence interval for

b. What is the width of this confidence interval?

4. In a random sample of 100 batteries produced by a certain method, the average lifetime was
150 hours and the standard deviation was 25 hours

a. Find a 95% confidence interval for the mean life time of batteries produced by this
method.
b. Find a 99% confidence interval for the mean life time of batteries produced by this
method
c. An engineer claims that the mean life time is between 147 and 153 hours. With what
level of confidence can this statement be made?
d. Approximately how many batteries must be sampled so that a 95% confidence interval
will specify the mean to within 2 hours?
e. Approximately how many batteries must be sampled so that a 99% confidence interval
will specify the mean to within 2 hours?

5. The average yearly income of 28 community college instructors was RM 56718. The
standard deviation was RM650. Find the 95% confidence interval of the true mean, If a
faculty member whishes to see if he or she is being paid below average, what salary value
should he or she use?

6. Each day a quality engineer selects a random sample of 100 bolts from the days production,
measures their lengths, and computes a 95% confidence interval for the mean length of all the
bolts manufactured that day. What is the probability that more than 15 of the confidence
intervals constructed in the next 250 days will fail to cover the true mean?

7. On a certain day, a large number of fuses were manufactured, each rated at 15A. A sample of
75 fuses is drawn from the days production, and 17 of them were found to have burnout
amperages greater than 15A.

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 Tutorial 3 Sampling Distribution and Confidence Interval

a. Find a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of fuses manufactured that day whose
burnout amperage is greater than 15A.
b. Find a 98% confidence interval for the proportion of fuses manufactured that day whose
burnout amperage is greater than 15A.
c. Find the sample size needed for a 95% confidence interval to specify the proportion to
within 0.05
d. Find the sample size needed for a 98% confidence interval to specify the proportion to
within 0.05
e. If a 95% confidence interval is computed each day for 200 days, what is the probability
that more than 192 of the confidence intervals cover the true proportions?

8. A random sample of 400 electronic components manufactured by a certain process are tested,
and 30 are found to be defective.
a. Let p represent the proportion of components manufactured by this process that are
defective. Find a 95% confidence interval for p.
b. How many components must be sampled so that the 95% confidence interval will specify
the proportion defective to within 0.02?

9. A chemist made 8 independent measurements of the melting point of tungsten. She obtained a
sample mean of 3410.14oC and a sample standard deviation of 1.018oC.
a. Find a 95% confidence interval for the melting point of tungsten
b. Find a 99% confidence interval for the melting point of tungsten
c. If the eight measurements had been 3409.76, 3409.80, 3412.66, 3409.79, 3409.76,
3409.77, 3409.80, and 3409.78, would the confidence intervals found in parts (a) and (b)
be valid? Explain.

10. An electrical engineer wishes to compare the mean lifetimes of two types of transistors in an
application involving high-temperature performance. A sample of 60 transistors of type A
were tested and were found to have a mean lifetime of 1827 hours and a standard deviation of
168 hours. A sample of 180 transistors of type B were tested and found to have a mean
lifetime of 1658 hours and a standard deviation of 225 hours. Find a 95% confidence interval
for the difference between the mean lifetimes of the two types of transistors.
a. Assume the population variance are same
b. Assume the population variance are different

11. In a random sample of 340 cars driven at low altitudes, 46 of them produced more than 10g
of particulate pollution per gallon of fuel consumed. In a random sample of 85 cars driven at
high altitudes, 21 of tem produced more than10 g of particulate pollution per gallon of fuel
consumed. Find a 98% confidence interval for the difference between the proportions for
high-altitude and low-altitude vehicles.

12. Three confidence intervals for the mean shear strength (in ksi) of anchor bolts of a certain
type are computed, all from the same sample. The intervals are (4.01, 6.02), (4.20, 5.83), and
(3.57, 6.46). The levels of the intervals are 90%, 95% and 99%. Which interval has which
level?

13. A university dean whishes to estimate the average number of hours his part-time instructors
teach per week. The standard deviation from a previous study is 2.6 hours. How large a
sample must be selected if he wants to be 99% confident for finding whether the true mean
differs from the sample mean by 1 hour?

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 Tutorial 3 Sampling Distribution and Confidence Interval

14. A recent study of 28 city residents showed that the mean of time they had lived at their
present address was 9.3 years. The standard deviation of the sample was 2 years. Find the
90% confidence interval of the true mean.

15. A medical researcher whishes to determine the percentage of females who take vitamins. He
wishes to be 99% confident that the estimate is within 2 percentage points of the true
proportion. How large should the sample size be? A recent study of 180 females showed that
25% took vitamins.

16. Find the 98% confidence interval for the variance and standard deviation for the time it takes
a telephone company to transfer a call to the correct office. A sample of 15 calls has a
standard deviation of 1.6 minutes. Assume the variable is normally distributed.

17. Find the 99% confidence interval for the variance and standard deviation for the breaking
strength of cables (in pounds). Assume the variable is normally distributed. A sample of 12
cables is given here.
2001, 1998, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1999, 1997, 2005, 2003, 2001, 1999, 2006

18. A nutritionist wishes to determine, within 2%, the true proportion of adults who snack before
bedtime. If she wishes to be 95% confident that her estimate contains the population
proportion, how large a sample will she need? A previous study found that 18% of the 100
people surveyed said that they did snack before bedtime.

19. The carbon content (in parts per million) was measured five times for each of two different
silicon wafers. The measurements were as follows:
Wafer A: 1.10 1.15 1.16 1.10 1.14
Wafer B: 1.20 1.18 1.16 1.18 1.15
Find a 99% confidence interval for the difference in the mean carbon content between the two
wafers.

a. Assume the population variance are same

b. Assume the population variance are different

20. The tobacco industry closely monitors all surveys that involve smoking. One survey showed
that among 785 randomly selected students who completed four years of college, 18.3% are
smokers.

a. Construct the 98% confidence interval for the true percentage of smokers among all
students who completed four years of college.
b. Based on the result from part (a) does the smoking rate for those with four years of
college appear to be substantially different than the 27% rate for the general population?

21. A machine is used to fill plastic bottles with bleach. A sample of 18 bottles had a mean fill
volume of 2.007 L and a standard deviation of 0.010 L. The machine was then moved to
another location. A sample of 10 bottles filled at new location had a mean fill volume of
2.001 L and a standard deviation of 0.012 L. It is believed that moving the machine may have
changed the mean fill volume, but is unlikely to have changed the standard deviation. Assume
that both samples come from approximately normal populations. Find a 99% confidence
interval for the difference between the mean fill volumes at the two locations.

a. Assume the population variance are same

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 Tutorial 3 Sampling Distribution and Confidence Interval

b. Assume the population variance are different

ANSWERS

1. (5.4, 5.8) years

2. 60 students
3. a. (10.75, 14.15) cm b. 3.4cm
4. a. (145, 155) hours b. (144, 156) hours
c. 77% d. 601 batteries
e. 1037 batteries
5. (RM56466, RM56970)
6. 0.1919
7. a. (0.1319, 0.3215) b. (0.1143, 0.3391)

c. 270 fuses d. 380 fuses

e. 0.2087
8. a. (0.0492, 0.1008) b. 667 components
9. a. (3409.29, 3410.99)oC b. (3408.88, 3411.40)oC
c. valid
10. a. (107, 231) hours b. (115, 223) hours
11. (-0.0053, 0.2289)
12. 95%, 90%, 99%
13. 45 instructors
14. (8.7, 9.9) years
15. 3111 females
16. (1.2, 7.7) minutes, (1.1, 2.8) minutes
17. (3.3, 33.9) pounds, (1.8, 5.8) pounds
18. 1418 peoples
19. a. (-0.096, 0.008) in parts per millions b. (-0.096, 0.008) in parts per milion
20. a. (0.151, 0.215) b. yes
21. a. (-0.006, 0.018) L b. (-0.006, 0.018) L