Homework: Hypothesis testing (significant level, p-value,

errors, power, sample size calculation)

1. For each part, state the null (H0) and alternative (HA) hypotheses.
(A) Has the average community level of suspended particulates for the month
of August exceeded 30 mg/cm3?
H0: Average community level of suspended particulates for the month of
August has not exceeded 30 mg/cm3. μ= 30
HA: Average community level of suspended particulates for the month of
August has exceeded 30 mg/cm3.μ> 30

(B) Does the mean age of onset of a certain acute disease for school children
differ from 11.5?
H0: the mean age of onset of a certain acute disease for school children
dose not differ from 11.5. μ= 11.5
HA: the mean age of onset of a certain acute disease for school children
differs from 11.5. μ≠ 11.5
(C) A psychologist claims that the average IQ of a sample of 60 children is
significantly above the normal IQ of 100.
H0: The average IQ of a sample of 60 children is not significantly above the
normal IQ of 100. μ= 100
HA: The average IQ of a sample of 60 children is significantly above the
normal IQ of 100. μ< 100
(D) Is the average cross-sectional area of the lumen of coronary arteries for
men, ages 40–59, less than 31.5% of the total arterial cross-section?
H0: The average cross-sectional area of the lumen of coronary arteries for
men, ages 40–59, is not less than 31.5% of the total arterial cross-section
HA: The average cross-sectional area of the lumen of coronary arteries for
men, ages 40–59, is less than 31.5% of the total arterial cross-section

(E) Is the mean hemoglobin level of high-altitude workers different from 16

g/cm3?
H0:
HA:

2. A group of investigators wishes to explore the relationship between the use of

hair dyes and the development of breast cancer in females. A group of 1000
beauticians 40–49 years of age is identified and followed for five years. After
five years, 20 new cases of breast cancer have occurred. Assume that breast
cancer incidence over this time period for average American women in this age
group is 7/1000. We wish to test the hypothesis that using hair dyes increases
the risk of breast cancer.
(A) What are the null and alternative hypotheses?
(B) Conduct a test to answer the question and compute the p-value for your
hypotheses.
(C) What do you conclude?
 Homework: Hypothesis testing (significant level, p-value,
errors, power, sample size calculation)
3. Data from the Framingham Study allow us to compare the distributions of initial
serum cholesterol levels for two populations of males: those who go on to
develop coronary heart disease and those who do not. The mean serum
cholesterol level of the population of men who do not develop heart disease is
μ=219 mg/100 ml and the standard deviation is σ =41 mg/100 ml. Suppose,
however, that you do not know the true population mean; instead, you
hypothesize that μ is equal to 244 mg/100 ml. This is the mean initial serum
cholesterol level of men who eventually develop the disease. Since it is believed
that the mean serum cholesterol level for the men who do not develop heart
disease cannot be higher than the mean level for men who do.
(A) What is the probability of making a type I error?
(B) If a sample of size 25 is selected from the population of men who do not go
on to develop coronary heart disease, what is the probability of making a
type II error?
(C) What is the power of the test?
(D) How could you increase the power?
(E) You wish to test the null hypothesis
H 0 : μ≥ 244 mg/100 ml
against the alternative
H A : μ<244 mg/100 ml
at the α =0.05 level of significance. If the true population 219 mg/100 ml,
you want risk only a 5% chance of failing to reject H 0. How large a sample
would be required?
(F) How would the sample size change if you were willing to risk a 10% chance
of failing to reject a false null hypothesis?