ASM0405, Mathematics II, Sem 2, 2019/2020

TUTORIAL 7 (Chapter6: Sampling Distribution)

1. Let X 1 , X 2 , X 3 ,..., X 20 be a random sample from a normal distribution with mean 8

and variance 5. Find the mean and variance of X . [ans: 8; 5/20]

2. Random samples of size n were selected from populations with the means and
variances given here. Find the mean and standard deviation of the sampling
distribution of the sample mean in each case:
a) n  36,   10,  2  9 [ans: 10; 0.5]
b) n  100,   5,  2  4 [ans: 5; 0.2]

3. A. C. Neilsen reported that children between the ages of 2 and 5 watch an average of
25 hours of television per week. Assume the variable is normally distributed and the
standard deviation is 3 hours. If 20 children between the ages of 2 and 5 are
randomly selected, find the probability that the mean of the number of hours they
watch television will be greater than 26.3 hours. [ans: 0.0262]

4. The average age of a vehicle registered in Country A is 8 years, or 96 months.

Assume the standard deviation is 16 months. If a random sample of 36 vehicles is
selected, find the probability that the mean of their age is between 90 and 100
months. [ans: 0.921]

5. The GPAs of all students enrolled at a large university have an approximately normal
distribution with a mean of 3.02 and a standard deviation 0f 0.29. Find the
probability that the mean GPA of a random sample of 20 students selected from this
university is
a) 3.10 or higher. [ans: 0.1094]
b) 2.90 or lower. [ans: 0.0322]
c) 2.95 to 3.11. [ans: 0.7777]

6. The average number of pounds of meat that a person consumes a year is 218.4
pounds. Assume that the standard deviation is 25 pounds and the distribution is
approximately normal.
a) Find the probability that a person selected at random consumes less than 224
pounds per year. [ans: 0.5871]
b) If a sample of 40 individuals is selected, find the probability that the mean of
the sample will be less than 224 pounds per year. [ans: 0.9222]

7. The mean weight of 18-year-old females is 126 pounds, and the standard deviation is
15.7. If a sample of 25 females is selected, find the probability that the mean of the
sample will be greater than 128.3 pounds. Assume the variable is normally
distributed. [ans:0.2327]

1
8. The mean score on a dexterity test for 12-year-olds is 30. The standard deviation is 5.
If a psychologist administers the test to a class of 22 students, find the probability
that the mean of the sample will be between 27 and 31. Assume the variable is
normally distributed. [ans: 0.8239]

9. The average age of lawyers is 43.6 years, with a standard deviation of 5.1 years. If a
law firm employs 50 lawyers, find the probability that the average age of the group is
greater than 44.2 years old. [ans: 0.2033]

10. The average cholesterol content of a certain brand of eggs is 215 milligrams, and the
standard deviation is 15 milligrams. Assume the variable is normally distributed.
a) If a single egg is selected, find the probability that the cholesterol content will
be greater than 220 milligrams. [ans: 0.3707]
b) If a sample of 25 eggs is selected, find the probability that the mean of the
sample will be larger than 220 milligrams. [ans: 0.0475]

11. Find each.

a) z for the 99% confidence interval. [ans: 2.58]
2

b) z for the 98% confidence interval. [ans: 2.33]

2

c) z for the 95% confidence interval. [ans: 1.96]

2

d) z for the 90% confidence interval. [ans: 1.64]

2

e) z for the 94% confidence interval. [ans: 1.88]

2

12. The president of a large university wishes to estimate the average age of the students
presently enrolled. From past studies, the standard deviation is known to be 2 years.
A sample of 50 students is selected, and the mean is found to be 23.2 years. Find the
95% confidence interval of the population mean. [ans: 22.65    23.75 ]

13. A survey of 30 adults found that the mean age of a person’s primary vehicle is 5.6
years. Assuming the standard deviation of the population is 0.8 year, find the 99%
confidence interval of the population mean. Interpret your answer.
[ans: 5.22    5.98 ]

14. A sample of the reading scores of 35 fifth-graders has a mean of 82. The standard
deviation of the sample is 15.
a) Find the 95% confidence interval of the mean reading scores of all fifth-
graders. [ans: 77.03    86.97 ]
b) Find the 99% confidence interval of the mean reading scores of all fifth-
graders. [ans: 75.46    88.54 ]
c) Which interval is larger? Explain why.

2
15. A study of 40 English composition professors showed that they spent, on average,
12.6 minutes correcting a student’s term paper.
a) Find the 90% confidence interval of the mean time for all composition papers
when   2.5 minutes. [ans: 11.95    13.25 ]
b) If a professor stated that he spent, on average, 30 minutes correcting a term
paper, what would be your comment?

16. Noise levels at various area urban hospitals were measured in decibels. The mean of
the noise levels in 84 corridors was 61.2 decibels, and the standard deviation was 7.9.
Find the 95% confidence interval of the true mean. Interpret your answer.
[ans: 59.51    62.89 ]

17. A public health official wanted to know how often university students visit their
student health centers due to illness or injury. The official took a nationwide random
sample of 1200 university students and found an average of 2.3 visits per student per
year with a standard deviation of 0.44.
a) Make a 97% confidence interval for the mean number of such visits per year
for all university students. [ans: 2.27    2.33 ]
b) Explain why we need to make the confidence interval. Why can we not say
that the mean number of all such visits per student per year is 2.3?

18. A wildlife study is designed to find the mean weight of salmon caught by an Alaskan
fishing company. A preliminary study of a random sample of 50 salmon showed
standard deviation equal to 2.151 pounds. How large a sample should be taken to be
99% confident that the sample mean is within 0.20 pound of the true mean weight?
[ans: 770]

19. A marketing researcher wants to find 95% confidence interval for the mean amount
that visitors to a theme park spend per person per day. She knows that the standard
deviation of the amounts spent per person per day by all visitors to this park is $11.
How large a sample should the researcher select so that the estimate will be within
$2 of the population mean? [ans: 117]