AP Statistics: Name_______________________________________________ Pd____

Hypothesis Test for a Population Proportion PRACTICE

Show all work for each problem and be sure to answer the question posed.

1. A random sample found 13,173 boys were born among 25,468 newborn children. Is this sample evidence
that the birth of boys is more common than the birth of girls in the entire population? Use α= 0.01.

2. In past years, studies have shown that among IV drug users in New York City, at least 5% contracted HIV
(the highest rate was more than 44% in the late 1980s). This year, in a random sample of 423 IV drug users,
there were 18 new cases of HIV. At a 5% significance level, is this evidence of a decrease in the rate of new
HIV cases in IV drug users?
KEY
1. ^p = 13173 / 25468 = 0.5172
H 0 : p = 0.5  where p = population proportion of births of boys
H A : p > 0.5 

Conduct a One Proportion Z Test

Conditions:
 Sample is stated to be random
 Distribution of ^p is approximately normal since np = n(1-p) = 25468(.5) = 12734 ≥10
 Selected newborns can be considered independent since we know N ≥ 10(25468) = 254680

Because the p-value is smaller than the significance level α=0.01, I reject the null hypothesis. There is sufficient
evidence to conclude boys are more common than girls in the entire population at the α = 0.01 level.

2.   ^p= 18 / 423 = .0426

where p = population proportion of IV drug users who are HIV positive

Conduct a One Proportion Z Test

Conditions:
 The sample is described as random
 Distribution of ^p is approximately normal since np = 423 (.05) = 21.15 ≥ 10, and n(1-p) = 423 (.95) = 401.85 ≥ 10
 N ≥ 10 (423) = 4230; I assume there are more than 4230 IV drug users in NYC, so the IV drug users in my sample
would be considered independent

P(z ≤-0.6983) = 0.242

Because the p-value is higher than the significance level of α = 0.05, I fail to reject Ho. I do not have statistically
significant evidence that the rate of new HIV cases in IV drug users has decreased.