Semester 1, 2021/2022

SIX1016 Statistics
Assignment 1

Answer all questions. You may use Excel or R to assist in the solution of the questions.

1. A random sample of 300 students majoring in either Statistics or Arts at a large university
is selected for a survey on the students’ opinion on their choice of major. The following
table summarizes the responses from the survey.

Responses Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

Arts 154 46
Statistics 71 29

a) If one student is selected at random from this group, find the probability that this
student is
(i) a Statistics major,
(ii) an Arts major given that the student is satisfied with the choice of major,
(iii) a Statistics major and is satisfied with the choice of major,
(iv) an Arts major or is dissatisfied with the choice of major.
b) Are the events “Statistics major” and “satisfied with choice of major” mutually
exclusive? Explain why or why not.
[3 marks]

2. The probability distribution of the number of customers visiting a bank in a small town
during a 1-hour period in the morning is determined as follows.

Customers per hour 0 1 2 3 4 5

Probability 0.15 0.30 0.32 0.12 0.08 0.03

a) Graph and describe the probability distribution in terms of central tendency and
dispersion.
b) Determine the probability that the number of customers visiting a bank during a
randomly selected 1-hour period in the morning is
(i) 3 or more,
(ii) exactly 5,
(iii) at most 1,
(iv) at least 2.
[4 marks]
 Semester 1, 2021/2022

3. Let the random variable 𝑋𝑋 follows the Bernoulli distribution with parameter 𝑝𝑝 = 0.63. Use
the Data Analysis tool in Excel and set the random seed for Random Number Generation
as 200.
a) Generate 100 random samples (Number of Variables) of size (Number of Random
Numbers)
(i) 20 each,
(ii) 50 each, and
(iii) 200 each.
b) For each a)(i) to a)(iii),
(i) compute the mean for each sample, and
(ii) plot a histogram for the 100 means computed in b)(i).
c) Describe and compare the three histograms obtained in part b). Comment on your
observation of the shape of the distribution for the means when the sample size
increases.
[6 marks]

4. The following gives the number of times each of 40 randomly selected first year students
from a university ate at fast food restaurants during a 14-day period.

14 7 11 17 2 1 15 0 4 15 27 4 4 6 18 15 16 6 1 3
10 20 13 16 4 17 5 12 3 6 13 12 5 14 12 13 12 1 11 4

a) Construct a stem-and-leaf display of these data. Describe the shape of the

distribution.
b) Create a dotplot for these data. Identify clusters and outliers in the data, if any.
c) Comment on the use of stem-and-leaf display versus the dotplot for this data set.
[5 marks]

5. Two companies, A and B, make express delivery for small-item packages in a city.
Company A charges a flat fee of RM70 per package regardless of weight. Company B
charges RM20 plus RM3.50 per kilogram of item. The weights of small-item packages
delivered in the city have a normal distribution with mean of 9 kilograms and a standard
deviation of 6.2 kilograms. Find
a) the probability that Company B would charge more than Company A to deliver a
small-item package.
b) the mean and standard deviation of amount charged by Company B to deliver a
small-item package.
[5 marks]

6. The amount of time taken by a customer service agent to serve a randomly selected
customer is normally distributed with a mean of 7.6 minutes and a standard deviation of
1.6 minutes. Find the probability that at least one of four randomly selected customers will
need more than 10 minutes to be served.
[3 marks]
 Semester 1, 2021/2022

7. The number of online customer service chats of a small company is believed to follow a
Poisson distribution. Currently, these chats are handled by a single agent. The manager of
the company knows from past experience that an additional agent will be needed if the rate
of incoming online chats exceeds 10 per hour. During a randomly selected half-hour
period, there were 7 chats observed.
a) If the rate of online chats is actually 10 per hour, find the probability that 7 or more
chats will come in during a given half-hour period.
b) If the rate of online chats is actually 15 per hour, find the probability that 7 or more
chats will come in during a given half-hour period.
c) Would you advise the manager to hire a second operator? Justify your answer.
[4 marks]