Robin Odega

Period 1

Oct. 16, 2019

Group 11

The Vending Machine Problem

I believe that the vending machine’s mean setting should be set to 6.5 ounces because

when the mean is set to that amount, it has a very rare chance of over- or underfilling the eight-

ounce cup. For example, if you were to sketch a Normal distribution for this issue, and 6.5

ounces was the mean setting, then three standard deviations above that mean would be 7.1

ounces, which would fall under 8 ounces and prevent spilling; three standard deviations under

that mean setting would be 5.9 ounces, which is more than half of what the cup can hold (4

ounces), so the customer would still be satisfied with the amount of liquid s/he receives. Since

both 5.9 ounces and 7.1 ounces are 3 standard deviations away from the mean, 99.7% of all

observations are between those two figures, which means there’s a 0.3% chance of the machine

putting too much or too little liquid into the cups — that’s a rare chance of a potential spill on a

customer or a ripoff. So, according to the data, 6.5 ounces should be the mean setting for the

vending machine.