MTH3003

SECOND SEMESTER SESSION 2019/2020

TUTORIAL 6

1. Calculate the margin of error in estimating

(a) a population mean µ for 𝑛 = 30, 𝜎 2 = 0.9.
(b) a population mean µ for 𝑛 = 50, 𝑠 2 = 4.
(c) a binomial proportion 𝑝 for 𝑛 = 100, 𝑝 = 0.5

2. If there were 40 men in a random sample of 250 elementary school teacher, estimate the
proportion of male elementary school teachers in the entire population. Give the margin of
error for your estimate.

3. Suppose the number of successes observed in 𝑛 = 500 trials of a binomial population

produced 𝑥 = 263 successes. Find a 90% confidence interval for 𝑝.

4. A random sample of 130 human body temperatures had a mean of 98.25 degrees and a
standard deviation of 0.73 degrees. Construct a 99% confidence interval for the average body
temperature of healthy people.

5. In an attempt to compare the starting salaries of college graduates majoring in education and
social sciences, random samples of 50 recent college graduates in each major were selected
and the following information was obtained:
Major Mean SD
Education 40 554 2225
Social sciences 38 348 2375

(a) Find a point estimate for the difference in the average starting salaries of college
students majoring in education and the social sciences.
(b) What is the margin of error for your estimate

6. Refer to question 5. Find

(a) a 90% confidence interval for the difference in in the average starting salaries of
college students majoring in education and the social sciences.

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 (b) a 99% confidence interval for the difference in in the average starting salaries of
college students majoring in education and the social sciences.

7. Independent random samples of 𝑛1 = 500 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛2 = 500 and observations were selected
from binomial populations 1 and 2, and 𝑥1 = 120 and 𝑥2 = 147 successes were observed.
(a) What is the best point estimator for the difference (𝑝1 − 𝑝2 ) in the two binomial
proportions?
(b) Calculate the approximate standard error for the statistic used in part a.

8. Refer to question 7. Find

(a) a margin of error for the point estimate.
(b) a 90% confidence interval for the difference (𝑝1 − 𝑝2 ) in the two binomial
proportions.

9. Suppose you wish to estimate a population mean based on a random sample of 𝑛

observations, and prior experience suggest that 𝜎 = 12.7. If you wish to estimate µ correct to
within 1.6, with probability equal to 0.95, how many observations should be included in your
sample?

10. Suppose you wish to estimate a binomial parameter 𝑝 correct to within 0.04, with
probability equal to 0.95. If 𝑝 = 0.5 and you want to be certain that your sample is large
enough, how large should 𝑛 be?