Final Assignment: Business Statistics I

Problem-1: The Wall Street Journal reported that Walmart Stores inc. is planning to lay off 2300
employees at its Sam’s Club warehouse unit. Approximately half of the layoffs will be hourly
employees (the Wall Street Journal, January 25–26, 2014). Suppose the following data
represent the percentage of hourly employees laid off for 15 Sam’s Club stores.

55 56 44 43 44 56 60 62
57 45 36 38 50 69 65

[a] Compute the mean and median percentage of hourly employees being laid off at these
stores.
[b] Compute the first and third quartiles.
[c] Compute the range and interquartile range.
[d] Compute the variance and standard deviation.
[e] Do the data contain any outliers?
[f] Based on the sample data, does it appear that Walmart is meeting its goal for reducing the
number of hourly employees?

Problem-2: A survey of magazine subscribers showed that 45.8 per cent rented a car during the
past 12 months for business reasons, 54 per cent rented a car during the past 12 months for
personal reasons and 30 per cent rented a car during the past 12 months for both business and
personal reasons.
[a] What is the probability that a subscriber rented a car during the past 12 months for business
or personal reasons?
[b] What is the probability that a subscriber did not rent a car during the past 12 months for
either business or personal reasons?

Problem-3: The Eco Pulse survey from the marketing communications firm Shelton Group
asked individuals to indicate things they do that make them feel guilty (Los Angeles Times,
August 15, 2012). Based on the survey results, there is a .39 probability that a randomly
selected person will feel guilty about wasting food and a .27 probability that a randomly
selected person will feel guilty about leaving lights on when not in a room. Moreover, there is a
.12 probability that a randomly selected person will feel guilty for both of these reasons.
[a] What is the probability that a randomly selected person will feel guilty for either wasting
food or leaving lights on when not in a room?
[b] What is the probability that a randomly selected person will not feel guilty for either of
these reasons?

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Problem-4: There are 100 employees at Kiddie Carts International. Fifty-seven of the employees
are hourly workers, 40 are supervisors, 2 are secretaries, and the remaining employee is the
president. Suppose an employee is selected:
[a] What is the probability the selected employee is an hourly worker?
[b] What is the probability the selected employee is either an hourly worker or a supervisor?
[c] Refer to part (b). Are these events mutually exclusive?
[d] What is the probability the selected employee is neither an hourly worker nor a supervisor?

Problem-5: Fred Friendly, CPA, has a stack of 20 tax returns to complete before the April 15th
deadline. Of the 20 tax returns, 12 are from individuals, 5 are from businesses, and 3 are from
charitable organizations. He randomly selects two returns. What is the probability that:
[a] Both are businesses?
[b] At least one is a business?

Problem-6: Fred exercises regularly. His fitness log for the last 12 months shows that he jogged
30% of the days, rode his bike 20% of the days, and did both on 12% of the days. What is the
probability that Fred would do at least one of these two types of exercises on any given day?

Problem-7: A recent survey reported in Bloomberg BusinessWeek dealt with the salaries of
CEOs at large corporations and whether company shareholders made money or lost money.

CEO Paid More CEO Paid Less

Than $ 1 Million Than $ 1 Million Total
Shareholders made money 2 11 13
Shareholders lost money 4 3 7
Total 6 14 20

If a company is randomly selected from the list of 20 studied, what is the probability:
a. The CEO made more than $1 million?
b. The CEO made more than $1 million or the shareholders lost money?
c. The CEO made more than $1 million given the shareholders lost money?
d. Of selecting two CEOs and finding they both made more than $1 million?

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Problem-8: The probability distribution for the random variable X follows.

X P (X)
20 0.20
25 0.15
30 0.25
35 0.40

[a] Is this probability distribution valid? Explain.

[b] What is the probability that X = 30?
[c] What is the probability that X is less than or equal to 25?
[d] What is the probability that X is greater than 30?

Problem-9: The following table provides a probability distribution for the random variable X.

X P (X)
3 0.25
6 0.50
9 0.25

[a] Compute the expected value of X.

[b] Compute the variance of X.
[c] Compute the standard deviation of X.

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