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3. Using the binomial table

Extrasensory perception (ESP) is the ability to perceive things that cannot be detected using ordinary senses. A psychologist is interested in investigating

claims of ESP. He randomly selects an experimental group of people who claim to have this ability and a control group of people who do not. Data from the

control group and the experimental group will be compared to see whether there is a statistically significant difference in the results.

In each trial for the control group, the psychologist randomly selects a card that is known by the subject to be colored with one of four colors and holds it
up behind a dark screen. The subject is then asked to guess the color on the card. Since he is a member of the control group, it is assumed that the

subject is equally likely to guess any one of the four colors. There will be a total of 6 trials per subject.

Use the appropriate table of cumulative binomial probabilities from the dropdown menu below to answer the questions that follow.

Values are P(X ≤ k), where n = the number of trials, k = the number of successes, and p = the probability of success.

Binomial Probabilities:

n=4 n=5 n=6 n=7 n=8

p
k 0.01 0.05 0.10 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.40 0.50
0 0.9415 0.7351 0.5314 0.2621 0.1780 0.1176 0.0467 0.0156
1 0.9985 0.9672 0.8857 0.6554 0.5339 0.4202 0.2333 0.1094
2 1.0000 0.9978 0.9842 0.9011 0.8306 0.7443 0.5443 0.3438
3 1.0000 0.9999 0.9987 0.9830 0.9624 0.9295 0.8208 0.6563
4 1.0000 1.0000 0.9999 0.9984 0.9954 0.9891 0.9590 0.8906
5 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000 0.9999 0.9998 0.9993 0.9959 0.9844

The probability that a control subject guesses correctly 4 or fewer times is 0.9954    .

Points: 1/1

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The probability that a control subject guesses correctly 4 or more times is 0.0376    .

Points: 1/1

The probability that a control subject guesses correctly exactly 4 times is 0.0376    .

Points: 0/1

Explanation: Close Explanation

The number of trials in this binomial experiment is n = 6. Because the subject is equally likely to guess any one of the four colors, the probability of
success in each trial is p = 1 / 4 = 0.25.

The first question is asking for a cumulative probability, P(X ≤ 4). The tables provide cumulative probabilities. To find this probability, select the

table for n = 6, the number of trials. To find P(X ≤ 4), look in the column corresponding to p = 0.25 and the row corresponding to k = 4. The value
in the intersection (0.9954) represents P(X ≤ 4).

The second question is asking for P(X ≥ 4). To use the table of cumulative probabilities, use the fact that X ≥ 4 and X ≤ 3 are complementary

events. Thus, P(X ≥ 4) = 1 – P(X ≤ 3). Using the same table corresponding to n = 6, select the value in the row corresponding to k = 3 in the same
column corresponding to p = 0.25 to get P(X ≤ 3) = 0.9624. Then, P(X ≥ 4) = 1 – 0.9624 = 0.0376.

Finally, the third question is asking for P(4). Since the provided table consists of cumulative probabilities, use the fact that P(4) = P(X ≤ 4) – P(X ≤

3). You have already P(X ≤ 4) = 0.9954 and P(X ≤ 3) = 0.9624. To get the probability of having exactly 4 successes, take the difference between
these two cumulative probabilities. That is, P(4) = P(X ≤ 4) – P(X ≤ 3) = 0.9954 – 0.9624 = 0.0330.

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