Lab 9 120MP Testing Means in Minitab

Here you will use Minitab to repeat the lecture examples and tutorial exercises.

Example 1
A manufacturer claims that its cans of soup weigh 250g on average with a standard
deviation of 4g. A random sample of 100 cans was found to have average weight 249.2g.
Is this sufficient statistical evidence for a purchaser to challenge the manufacturer’s claim?

 Go to Stat > Basic Statistics > 1-Sample Z.

 Fill in the relevant values.
 Click on Options and choose the correct alternative hypothesis.
 Copy your output to the Report Pad and add notes for yourself.
 What is the conclusion? Give reasons.
 Check that your answers tally with those in your lecture notes.

Example 2
Concerned that there might be a problem, a trading standards inspector takes a random
sample of 9 cans. This sample had a mean of 246.64g and a standard deviation of 3.0g.

Is this significantly below the 250g claimed at (a) the 5%, (b) the 1%, (c) the 0.1%
significance level?

What is the smallest significance level at which this sample mean would be significant?

 Go to Stat > Basic Statistics > 1-Sample T.

 Fill in the relevant values.
 Click on Options and choose the correct alternative hypothesis.
 Copy your output to the Report Pad and add notes for yourself.
 Check that your answers tally with those in your lecture notes.

Example 3
Suppose a manager analysed the data in Example 2 from a company perspective.
The company is just as concerned about cans being overweight as underweight.

This is known as a two-sided or two-tailed test. What difference does it make?

 Use Ctrl+E to return to Stat > Basic Statistics > 1-Sample T

 Change the alternative hypothesis.
 Copy your output to the Report Pad and add notes for yourself.
 Check that your answers tally with those in your lecture notes.

120MP 1
Exercises

 Use Minitab to answer the following questions (which are from last week’s tutorial
sheet)
 Copy your output to the Report Pad and add notes for yourself.
 Check that your answers tally with your tutorial exercises.

1. A certain model of car is claimed by its manufacturer to have mean fuel

consumption 28mpg with standard deviation 4.8mpg. The mean value is disputed
by an independent researcher who believes the figure to be lower. He has
compiled his own sample of 100 readings having a mean of 26.9mpg. Is this
evidence sufficient to refute the manufacturer's claim at the 5% significant level?

2. In a study to determine the effect, if any, of mother's diet on birth weight of infants,
nine women in their third month of pregnancy were placed on a strict diet. At birth
the weights of their babies were (lbs):
5.5 6 7 5.5 8 7 8 5.5 6
It is known that the normal average birth weight is approximately 7 lbs.

Can it be said that the average birth weight of infants born to mothers on this diet is
different from the normal average?

3. A city fire service claims to maintain an average response time of 5 minutes to any
emergency within the city boundary. During one morning in January the response
times (in minutes) for 9 calls were
4.7 3.2 7.8 5.2 4.8 9.0 3.3 5.1 5.4
Is there any evidence from these figures to suggest that the `true' mean is not 5
minutes?

4. A process for making steel pipes is under control if the pipe diameter has a mean of
75mm with a standard deviation of 0.38mm. The process is checked several times
a day by taking a random sample of 30 pipes. Should the process be adjusted if
such a sample gave a mean of 75.2mm? Use a 1% significance level.

120MP 2