Stat Chapter 7 Study Guide-Solutions

1. Out of the 500 students of a school, 30% wear glasses.
If we use a simple random sample of 25

students, which of the following statements is correct:
a) The sampling distribution is small relative to the population.

b) The sampling distribution is a skewed distribution.
c) The sampling distribution is normal.
d) The mean of the sampling distribution is μ = .3.
e) None of the above.
2. A large automobile manufacturer states that approximately 4% of all their cars made in 2010 have a
defective component. Two samples of 150 cars (sample A) and 250 cars (sample B) were taken to test for
the defective component. Which of the following statements must be true?
a) The standard deviation of the sample A < the standard deviation of the sample B.
b) The mean of the sample A < the mean of the sample B.
c) Both samples will have equal standard deviations.
d) The mean of the sample A > the mean of the sample B.
e) The standard deviation of the sample A > the standard deviation of the sample B.
3. A volunteer for a mayoral candidate's campaign periodically conducts polls to estimate the proportion
of people in the city who are planning to vote for this candidate in the upcoming election. Two weeks
before the election, the volunteer plans to double the sample size in the polls. The main purpose of this is
a) to reduce nonresponse bias

b) to reduce the effects of confounding variables
c) to reduce bias due to the interviewer effect
d) to decrease the variability in the population
e) to decrease the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of the sample proportion
4. The population {2, 3, 5, 7} has mean μ = 4.25 and standard deviation σ = 1.92. When sampling with
replacement, there are 16 different possible ordered samples of size 2 that can be selected from this
population. The mean of each of these 16 samples is computed. For example, 1 of the 16 samples is (2, 5),
which has a mean of 3.5. The distribution of the 16 sample means has its own mean μx and its own
standard deviation σ x . Which of the following statements is true?
(A) μx = 4.25 and σ x = 1.92

(B) μx = 4.25 and σ x > 1.92
(C) μx = 4.25 and σ x < 1.92
(D) μx > 4.25
(E) μx < 4.25
An opinion poll asks a sample of 400 adults (an SRS) whether they favor giving parents of school age
children vouchers that can be exchanged for education at any public or private school of their choice.
Each school would be paid by the government on the basis of how many vouchers it collected. Suppose
that in fact 52% of the population favor this idea.
5. What is the mean of the sampling distribution of p̂ , the proportion of adults in samples of 500 who
favor giving parents of school-age children these vouchers?
The mean of the sampling distribution is the same as the mean of the population, 0.52.
6. Explain why you can use the normal approximation for the distribution of p̂ .
We can use the normal approximation because pn = .52(500) = 260 and (1 – p)n = .48(500) = 240 are
both greater than 10.
7. What is the standard deviation of p̂ ?
The standard deviation is √p(1 – p)/n = √.52(.48)/500 = 0.0223
8. Explain why you can use the formula for the standard deviation of p̂ in this setting.
We can calculate the standard deviation because the sample size (500) is less than 10% of the population.
9. What is the probability that more than 55% of the sample is in favor?
P( p̂ > .55) = P(z > (.55-.52)/.0223) = P(z > 1.345) = 1 - .9115 = .0885, or 8.85%
(round 1.345 up to 1.35 to look on the normal table; subtract from 1 because the probability is “greater
than”)
10. What is the probability that less than half the sample is in favor?
P( p̂ < .50) = P(z < (.50-.52)/.0223) = P(z < -0.897) = .1841, or 18.41%
(round to 0.90 to look on the table)
11. What is the probability that less than 10% of the sample is in favor?
P( p̂ < .10) = P(z < (.10-.52)/.0223) = P(z < -18.83) = 0
This makes sense according to the 68-95-99.7 rule; only .3% of the distribution is beyond three standard
deviations from the mean, and beyond 4 standard deviations is practically 0%. This is a good thing! We
are certain the proportion in our sample is fairly close to .52.
A study of college freshmen’s study habits found that the time (in hours) that college freshmen use to
study each week is approximately normally distributed with a mean of 8.1 hours and a standard deviation
of 4.7 hours.
12. What is the probability that a randomly chosen freshmen studies more than twice the average number
of hours?
P(x > 16.2) = P(z > (16.2-8.1)/4.7) = P(z > 1.723) = 1 - .9573 = .0427 or 4.27%
13. How many hours must a freshman study to be in the top 10% of all freshmen?
P(z > k) = .10, so P(z < k) = 0.90 ,and k is about 1.28. Then 1.28 = (x – 8.1)/4.7, and x = 14.116 hours
14. Describe the shape of the sampling distribution of the mean x of a sample of 55 randomly selected
freshmen. How do you know this?
The population has a normal distribution, so the sampling distribution will also be normal.
15. What are the mean and standard deviation for the average number of hours x spent studying by an
SRS of 55 freshmen? Why can you use the formula to calculate the standard deviation?
The mean is the same as the population mean, 8.1 hours. The standard deviation is σ/√n = 4.7/√55 = .6337
hours. The formula applies because the population (all college freshmen) is more than ten times the size
of the sample (55).
16. What is the probability that an SRS of 55 freshmen study more than twice the average number of
hours?
P( x > 16.2) = P(z > (16.2-8.1)/.6337) = P(z > 12.62) = 0
The distribution for samples of 55 has much less variability than the population distribution (just
individuals). 99.7% of the samples have an average between 6.2 and 10 hours, or within three standard
deviations. It’s nearly impossible to find a sample with an average of 16.2.
17. Would your answers to 14-16 be affected if the distribution of number of hours that freshmen study
was distinctly non-normal? Explain.
No, the answers would not be affected! According to the Central Limit Theorem, the sampling
distribution of the sample mean can be approximated by the normal distribution as long as n is large
enough (usually over 30). This is true no matter what the shape of the population distribution is—normal,
skewed, uniform, etc.

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1. Out of the 500 students of a school, 30% wear glasses.

If we use a simple random sample of 25

a) The sampling distribution is small relative to the population.

a) to reduce nonresponse bias

(A) μx = 4.25 and σ x = 1.92

7. What is the standard deviation of p̂ ?

The standard deviation is √p(1 – p)/n = √.52(.48)/500 = 0.0223

(round to 0.90 to look on the table)

P( p̂ < .10) = P(z < (.10-.52)/.0223) = P(z < -18.83) = 0

P( x > 16.2) = P(z > (16.2-8.1)/.6337) = P(z > 12.62) = 0

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