SAMPLING

Problem 1
If the population mean is 1,247, the population variance is 10,000 and the sample size
is 100, what is the probability that X (sample mean) will be less than 1,230?

Problem 2:
When sampling is from a population with standard deviation 55, using sample of size
n=150, what is the probability that will be at least 8 units away from the population mean?

Problem 3:
An economist wishes to estimate the average family income in a certain population.
The population standard deviation is known to be $4,500, and the economist uses a random
sample of size = 225. What is the probability that the sample mean will fall within $800 of
the population mean?

Problem 4:
According to Money, in the year prior to March 2007, the average return for firms of
the S&P 500 was 13.1%.9 Assume that the standard deviation of returns was 1.2%. If a
random sample of 36 companies in the S&P 500 is selected, what is the probability that
their average return for this period will be between 12% and 15%?

Problem 5:
Shimano mountain bikes are displayed in chic clothing boutiques in Milan, Italy, and
the average price for the bike in the city is $700. Suppose that the standard deviation of bike
prices is $100. If a random sample of 60 boutiques is selected, what is the probability that
the average price for a Shimano mountain bike in this sample will be between $680 and
$720?

Problem 6:
When sampling is done for the proportion of defective items in a large shipment,
where the population proportion is 0.18 and the sample size is 200, what is the probability
that the sample proportion will be at least 0.20?

Problem 7:
A study of the investment industry claims that 58% of all mutual funds outperformed
the stock market as a whole last year. An analyst wants to test this claim and obtains a

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random sample of 250 mutual funds. The analyst finds that only 123 of the funds
outperformed the market during the year. Determine the probability that another random
sample would lead to a sample proportion as low as or lower than the one obtained by the
analyst, assuming the proportion of all mutual funds that outperformed the market is indeed
0.58.

Problem 8:
The proportion of defective microcomputer disks of a certain kind is believed to be
anywhere from 0.06 to 0.10. The manufacturer wants to draw a random sample and
estimate the proportion of all defective disks. How large should the sample be to ensure that
the standard deviation of the estimator is at most 0.03?

Problem 9:
Residential real estate in New York rents for an average of $44 per square foot, for a
certain segment of the market.14 If the population standard deviation is $7, and a random
sample of 50 properties is chosen
a. What is the probability that the sample average will be below $35?
b. Give 0.95 probability bounds on the value of the sample mean that would be
obtained. Also give 0.90 probability bounds on the value of the sample mean.

Source: Thanh Le - Ho

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