Problem Sheet (Inferential Statistics)

1. A particular item is delivered in lots of 10000 pieces by a company to the retailers. The retailers
have agreed to accept a lot with a maximum of 5% defective items. In case the percentage
defective (π) in the lot is higher than 5%, the retailer sends back the entire lot to the company. To
test whether a lot confirms to specification, the company has decided to use a sampling inspection
plan as follows. A random sample of items is drawn from a lot and the number of defectives in the
sample is counted. If the number of defectives in the sample exceeds some pre-assigned number
the lot is not sent to any retailer. Determine the approximate number of items to be accepted as
well as maximum number of defectives in the sample up-to which a lot remains acceptable so that
the probability of type I error is 0.05, and the probability of type II error when π = 0.10 is also 0.05.
2. The proportion of adults living in a small town who are college graduates is estimated to be 0.3 (=
π). To test this hypothesis a random sample of 15 adults is selected. If the number of college
graduates in the sample is anywhere from 2 to 7, the null hypothesis π = 0.3 is accepted; otherwise
it is concluded that π ≠ 0.3. Evaluate size of type I error. Also calculate size if type II error for the
alternatives π = 0.2 and π = 0.4.
3. The proportion of families buying milk from company ‘A’ in a certain city is believed to be 0.6 (= p).
If a random sample of 10 families shows that 3 or less buy milk from company ‘A’, the hypothesis
p = 0.6 is rejected in favour of alternative π < 0.6. Calculate the probability of committing a type I
error. Calculate the probability of committing a type II error for the alternatives p = 0.3, p = 0.4,
and p = 0.5.
4. A new cure has been developed for a certain type of cement that results in a compressive strength
of 5000 kilograms per square centimetre and a standard deviation of 120. To test the hypothesis
that μ = 5000 against the alternative that μ < 5000, a random sample of 50 pieces of cement are
tested. The critical region is defined to be x  4970. Calculate the probability of committing a
type I error. Evaluate β for the alternatives μ = 4970 and μ = 4960.
5. The government claims that about 25% of the rural population in the state is below the poverty
line. In order to counter the government’s claim, the main opposition party conducts a quick
survey of 1000 rural people and finds that 275 of them are below the poverty line. Can the
opposition conclude at 5 % level of significance that the government’s claim is false? What is the
probability that the above survey accepts the government’s claim while in reality 30% of the rural
population is below the poverty line?
6. In a large experiment to determine the success of a new drug, 400 patients with a certain disease
are to be given the drug. If more than 300 but less than 340 patients are cured, it is concluded that
the drug is 80 % effective. Calculate the probability of concluding that drug is not 80% effective
while in reality it is effective. What is the probability of committing type II error if the new drug is
only 70% effective?
7. A quality characteristic of interest for a tea-bag-filling process is the weight of the tea in the
individual bags. If the bags are under filled, two problems arise. First, customers may not be able
to brew the tea to be so strong as they wish. Second, the company may be in violation of the truth-
in-labelling laws. For this product, the label weight on the package indicates that, on an average,
there are 5.5 grams of tea in a bag. If the mean amount of tea in a bag exceeds the label weight,
the company is giving away product. Getting an exact amount of tea in a bag is problematic
because of variation in the temperature and humidity inside the factory, differences in the density
of the tea, and extremely fast filling operation of the machine (approximately 170 bags per
minute). The data given below provide the weight, in grams, of a sample of 50 tea bags produced
in one hour by a single machine:
 5.65 5.44 5.42 5.40 5.53 5.34 5.54 5.45 5.52 5.41

5.57 5.40 5.53 5.54 5.55 5.62 5.56 5.46 5.44 5.51

5.47 5.40 5.47 5.61 5.53 5.32 5.67 5.29 5.49 5.55

5.77 5.57 5.42 5.58 5.58 5.50 5.32 5.50 5.53 5.58

5.61 5.45 5.44 5.25 5.56 5.63 5.50 5.57 5.67 5.36

From this sample data, the management of the company is interested to ascertain that mean
weight of a tea bag is 5.5 grams. What decision rule should the analyst adopt if the company is
willing to take 1% risk of committing an error by concluding that mean weight of a tea bag is
different from 5.5 grams whereas actually it is 5.5 grams?

8. The national proportion of Indians who drink milk as the primary beverage for breakfast is
supposed to be 0.10. A milk producer in Anand, Gujarat, where milk is plentiful believes that this
proportion is higher for Anand. To test her belief, she selected a random sample of 400 residents
of Anand and decides to conclude that more than 10% residents of Anand drink milk in breakfast
if the sample proportion is greater than 0.125. By adopting this decision criterion how much risk
she is taking in terms of committing type I error?
9. Let A soft drink manufacturer is to decide about launching a new variety of soft drink. Based on
his past experience, he believed that 80% of the customers were in favour of the new product. In
order to decide about the launching of the new product, the manufacturer collects the opinion of
400 customers selected by means of random sampling scheme. He further frames the decision
rule of rejecting the hypothesis of π = 0.8 in favour of the alternative hypothesis π < 0.8 if 308 or a
smaller number of customers favour the new product. Thus, the new product would not be
launched if based on sample, it is concluded that π < 0.8.
Calculate the probability of committing type I error if 80% of the customers actually favoured the
new product. Also compute the probability of launching the new product when actually π = 0.73.

10. Let X be N(μ, σ2=100). To test H0: μ = 60 against H1: μ > 60, use a rejection region of the form x  c.
Determine the approximate sample size as well as the value of ‘c’ so that the probability of
committing type I error is 0.05 and the probability of committing type II error when μ = 65 is also
0.05.
11. A random sample of 36 drinks from a soft-drink machine has an average content of 21.9 decilitres
with a standard deviation of 1.42 decilitres. Test the hypothesis that µ = 22.2 decilitres against the
alternative hypothesis µ < 22.2 at the 0.05 level of significance.
12. Let X be N(µ, σ2). Is the hypothesis H0: σ2 =0.04 rejected at 5% level of significance in favour of the
two-sided alternative H1: σ2 ≠ 0.04 if a random sample of size n=13 yielded s2 = 0.058? Assume
that the population has a normal distribution.
13. The Board of Examinations of a University considers that the variation of marks in any subject
should not be too high not should it be too low. It has decided that the standard deviation of
marks in any subject should be around 10. To check if there is any violation of this norm, it has
decided to carry out a test on the basis of a simple random sample of 20 answer books. For one
subject, the sample mean and standard deviation are 60 and 7 respectively. What is your
conclusion regarding the stipulation of the Board for this subject? Assume that the marks in
population have a normal distribution.
14. It is claimed that an automobile is driven on the average less than 20,000 kilometres per year. To
test this claim, a random sample of 100 automobile owners is asked to keep a record of the
 kilometres they travel. Would you agree with this claim if the random sample showed an average
of 23,500 kilometres and a standard deviation of 3900 kilometres? Use a 0.01 level of significance.
15. Test the hypothesis that the average content of containers of a particular lubricant is 10 litres if
the contents of a random sample of 10 containers are 10.2, 9.7, 10.1, 10.3, 10.1, 9.8, 9.9, 10.4,
10.3 and 9.8 litres. Use a 0.01 level of significance and assume that the distribution of contents is
normal.
16. A random sample of size 20 from a normal distribution has a mean 𝑥 = 32.8 and a standard
deviation s = 4.51. Does this suggest, at the 0.05 level of significance that the population mean is
greater than 30?
17. A random sample of eight cigarettes of a certain brand has an average tar content of 18.6
milligrams and a standard deviation of 2.4 milligrams. Is this in line with the manufacturer claim
that the average tar content does not exceed 17.5 milligrams at 5% level of significance? Assume
the tar content in cigarettes to be normally distributed.
18. A male student will spend on the average $8.00 for a Saturday evening fraternity party. Test the
hypothesis at the 0.1 level of significance that µ = $8.00 against the alternative µ ≠ $8.00 if a
random sample of 12 male students attending a homecoming party showed an average
expenditure of $8.90 with a standard deviation of $1.75. Assume that the expenses are
approximately normally distributed.
19. A random sample of size n1 = 25 taken from a normal population with a standard deviation 𝜎1 =5.2
has a mean 𝑥1 = 81. A second random sample of size n2 = 36 taken from a different normal
population with a standard deviation 𝜎2 =3.4 has a mean 𝑥2 = 76. Test the hypothesis at the 0.06
level of significance that 𝜎1 = 𝜎2 against the alternative 𝜎1 ≠ 𝜎2 .
20. A large automobile manufacturing company is trying to decide whether to purchase brand A or
brand B tires for its new models. To help arrive at a decision an experiment is conducted using 12
tires of each brand. The tires are run until they wear out. The results are
Brand A: 𝑥1 = 37,900 kilometers, s1 = 5,100 kilometers
Brand B: 𝑥2 = 39,800 kilometers, s2 = 5,900 kilometers
Test the hypothesis at the 0.05 level of significance that there is no difference in the two brands of
tires. Assume the populations to be approximately normally distributed.
21. In 100 tosses of a coin, 63 heads and 37 tails are observed. Is this a balanced coin? Use a 0.05
level of significance.