Exam

Name___________________________________

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

Solve the problem.

1) A study was conducted to determine what proportion of all college students considered themselves 1)
as full-time students. A random sample of 300 college students was selected and 210 of the
students responded that they considered themselves full-time students. Which of the following
would represent the target parameter of interest?
A) p B) µ

Answer the question True or False.

2) For data with two outcomes (success or failure), the binomial proportion of successes is likely to be 2)
the parameter of interest.
A) True B) False

Solve the problem.

3) What is the confidence level of the following confidence interval for µ? 3)
x ± 1.645
n
A) 98% B) 165% C) 95% D) 90%

4) A 90% confidence interval for the mean percentage of airline reservations being canceled on the 4)
day of the flight is (1.5%, 4.2%). What is the point estimator of the mean percentage of reservations
that are canceled on the day of the flight?
A) 2.85% B) 2.10% C) 2.7% D) 1.35%

5) Suppose a large labor union wishes to estimate the mean number of hours per month a union 5)
member is absent from work. The union decides to sample 496 of its members at random and
monitor the working time of each of them for 1 month. At the end of the month, the total number of
hours absent from work is recorded for each employee. Which of the following should be used to
estimate the parameter of interest for this problem?
A) A large sample confidence interval for µ. B) A large sample confidence interval for p.
C) A small sample confidence interval for µ. D) A small sample confidence interval for p.

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 6) Parking at a large university can be extremely difficult at times. One particular university is trying 6)
to determine the location of a new parking garage. As part of their research, officials are interested
in estimating the average parking time of students from within the various colleges on campus. A
survey of 338 College of Business (COBA) students yields the following descriptive information
regarding the length of time (in minutes) it took them to find a parking spot. Note that the "Lo 95%"
and "Up 95%" refer to the endpoints of the desired confidence interval.

Variable N Lo 95% CI Mean Up 95% CI SD

Parking Time 338 9.1944 10.466 11.738 11.885

University officials have determined that the confidence interval would be more useful if the
interval were narrower. Which of the following changes in the confidence level would result in a
narrower interval?
A) The university could decrease their confidence level.
B) The university could increase their confidence level.

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.

7) Suppose (1,000, 2,100) is a 95% confidence interval for µ. To make more useful inferences 7)
from the data, it is desired to reduce the width of the confidence interval. Explain why an
increase in sample size will lead to a narrower interval of the estimate of µ.

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

Answer the question True or False.

8) The Central Limit Theorem guarantees an approximately normal sampling distribution for the 8)
sample mean for large sample sizes, so no knowledge about the distribution of the population is
necessary for the corresponding interval to be valid.
A) True B) False

9) The confidence coefficient is the relative frequency with which the interval estimator encloses the 9)
population parameter when the estimator is used repeatedly a very large number of times.
A) True B) False

Solve the problem.

10) What is the confidence coefficient in a 95% confidence interval for µ? 10)
A) .475 B) .05 C) .95 D) .025

11) Determine the confidence level for the given confidence interval for µ. 11)
x ± 1.00
n
A) 84.13% B) 31.74% C) 15.87% D) 68.26%

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12) A 90% confidence interval for the average salary of all CEOs in the electronics industry was 12)
constructed using the results of a random survey of 45 CEOs. The interval was ($146,132, $156,381).
Give a practical interpretation of the interval.
A) We are 90% confident that the mean salary of the sampled CEOs falls in the interval $146,132
to $156,381.
B) We are 90% confident that the mean salary of all CEOs in the electronics industry falls in the
interval $146,132 to $156,381.
C) 90% of all CEOs in the electronics industry have salaries that fall between $146,132 to
$156,381.
D) 90% of the sampled CEOs have salaries that fell in the interval $146,132 to $156,381.

13) A random sample of 250 students at a university finds that these students take a mean of 15.4 credit 13)
hours per quarter with a standard deviation of 1.7 credit hours. The 90% confidence interval for the
mean is 15.4 ± 0.177. Interpret the interval.
A) We are 90% confident that the average number of credit hours per quarter of students at the
university falls in the interval 15.223 to 15.577 hours.
B) 90% of the students take between 15.223 to 15.577 credit hours per quarter.
C) The probability that a student takes 15.223 to 15.577 credit hours in a quarter is 0.90.
D) We are 90% confident that the average number of credit hours per quarter of the sampled
students falls in the interval 15.223 to 15.577 hours.

14) Suppose a large labor union wishes to estimate the mean number of hours per month a union 14)
member is absent from work. The union decides to sample 426 of its members at random and
monitor the working time of each of them for 1 month. At the end of the month, the total number of
hours absent from work is recorded for each employee. If the mean and standard deviation of the
sample are x = 9.5 hours and s = 2.2 hours, find a 99% confidence interval for the true mean number
of hours a union member is absent per month. Round to the nearest thousandth.
A) 9.5 ± .106 B) 9.5 ± .274 C) 9.5 ± .185 D) 9.5 ± .013

15) Parking at a large university can be extremely difficult at times. One particular university is trying 15)
to determine the location of a new parking garage. As part of their research, officials are interested
in estimating the average parking time of students from within the various colleges on campus. A
survey of 338 College of Business (COBA) students yields the following descriptive information
regarding the length of time (in minutes) it took them to find a parking spot. Note that the "Lo 95%"
and "Up 95%" refer to the endpoints of the desired confidence interval.

Variable N Lo 95% CI Mean Up 95% CI SD

Parking Time 338 9.1944 10.466 11.738 11.885

Explain what the phrase "95% confident" means when working with a 95% confidence interval.
A) In repeated sampling, 95% of the population means will fall within the interval created.
B) In repeated sampling, 95% of the intervals created will contain the population mean.
C) In repeated sampling, 95% of the sample means will fall within the interval created.
D) 95% of the observations in the population will fall within the endpoints of the interval.

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 16) A retired statistician was interested in determining the average cost of a $200,000.00 term life 16)
insurance policy for a 60-year-old male non-smoker. He randomly sampled 65 subjects
(60-year-old male non-smokers) and constructed the following 95 percent confidence interval for
the mean cost of the term life insurance: ($850.00, $1050.00). Explain what the phrase "95 percent
confident" means in this situation.
A) 95 percent of all the life insurance costs will fall within the specified interval.
B) In repeated sampling, the mean of the population will fall within the specified intervals 95
percent of the time.
C) 95 percent of all retired statisticians are underinsured.
D) In repeated sampling, 95 percent of the intervals constructed would contain the value of the
true population mean.

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.

17) How much money does the average professional football fan spend on food at a single 17)
football game? That question was posed to 51 randomly selected football fans. The sample
results provided a sample mean and standard deviation of $11.00 and $3.10, respectively.
Find and interpret a 99% confidence interval for µ.

18) The following data represent the scores of a sample of 50 randomly chosen students on a 18)
standardized test.

39 48 55 63 66 68 68 69 70 71
71 71 73 74 76 76 76 77 78 79
79 79 79 80 80 82 83 83 83 85
85 86 86 88 88 88 88 89 89 89
90 91 92 92 93 95 96 97 97 99

a. Write a 95% confidence interval for the mean score of all students who took the test.
b. Identify the target parameter and the point estimator.

19) A random sample of n = 100 measurements was selected from a population with unknown 19)
mean µ and standard deviation . Calculate a 95% confidence interval if x = 26 and s2 = 16.

20) A random sample of 80 observations produced a mean x = 35.4 and a standard deviation s 20)
= 3.1.

a. Find a 90% confidence interval for the population mean µ.

b. Find a 95% confidence interval for µ.
c. Find a 99% confidence interval for µ.
d. What happens to the width of a confidence interval as the value of the confidence
coefficient is increased while the sample size is held fixed?

21) Suppose you selected a random sample of n = 29 measurements from a normal 21)
distribution. Compare the standard normal z value with the corresponding t value for a
95% confidence interval.

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

22) Find the value of t0 such that the following statement is true: P(-t0 t t0 ) = .95 where df = 15. 22)
A) 2.131 B) 2.602 C) 1.753 D) 2.947

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 23) Let t0 be a specific value of t. Find t0 such that the following statement is true: 23)
P(t t0 ) = .005 where df = 20.
A) 2.861 B) -2.845 C) -2.861 D) 2.845

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.

24) Let t0 be a particular value of t. Find a value of t0 such that P(t t0) = .005 where df = 9. 24)

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

25) Fifteen SmartCars were randomly selected and the highway mileage of each was noted. The 25)
analysis yielded a mean of 47 miles per gallon and a standard deviation of 5 miles per gallon.
Which of the following would represent a 90% confidence interval for the average highway
mileage of all SmartCars?
5 5 5 5
A) 47 ± 1.645 B) 47 ± 1.753 C) 47 ± 1.761 D) 47 ± 1.345
15 15 15 15

26) You are interested in purchasing a new car. One of the many points you wish to consider is the 26)
resale value of the car after 5 years. Since you are particularly interested in a certain foreign sedan,
you decide to estimate the resale value of this car with a 99% confidence interval. You manage to
obtain data on 17 recently resold 5-year-old foreign sedans of the same model. These 17 cars were
resold at an average price of $12,760 with a standard deviation of $700. Suppose that the interval is
calculated to be ($12,264.09, $13,255.91). How could we alter the sample size and the confidence
coefficient in order to guarantee a decrease in the width of the interval?
A) Increase the sample size but decrease the confidence coefficient.
B) Decrease the sample size but increase the confidence coefficient.
C) Increase the sample size and increase the confidence coefficient.
D) Keep the sample size the same but increase the confidence coefficient.

27) A marketing research company is estimating the average total compensation of CEOs in the service 27)
industry. Data were randomly collected from 18 CEOs and the 99% confidence interval for the
mean was calculated to be ($2,181,260, $5,836,180). Explain what the phrase "99% confident" means.
A) 99% of the sample means from similar samples fall within the interval.
B) 99% of the population values will fall within the interval.
C) In repeated sampling, 99% of the intervals constructed would contain µ.
D) 99% of the similarly constructed intervals would contain the value of the sample mean.

28) A marketing research company is estimating the average total compensation of CEOs in the service 28)
industry. Data were randomly collected from 18 CEOs and the 95% confidence interval for the
mean was calculated to be ($2,181,260, $5,836,180). What would happen to the confidence interval
if the confidence level were changed to 90%?
A) The interval would get wider.
B) It is impossible to tell until the 90% interval is constructed.
C) There would be no change in the width of the interval.
D) The interval would get narrower.

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 29) A computer package was used to generate the following printout for estimating the mean sale price 29)
of homes in a particular neighborhood.

X = sale_price

SAMPLE MEAN OF X = 46,500

SAMPLE STANDARD DEV = 13,747
SAMPLE SIZE OF X = 15
CONFIDENCE = 90

UPPER LIMIT = 52,750.6

SAMPLE MEAN OF X = 46,500
LOWER LIMIT = 40,249.4

Which of the following is a practical interpretation of the interval above?

A) We are 90% confident that the true sale price of all homes in this neighborhood fall between
$40,249.40 and $52,750.60.
B) We are 90% confident that the mean sale price of all homes in this neighborhood falls between
$40,249.40 and $52,750.60.
C) 90% of the homes in this neighborhood have sale prices that fall between $40,249.40 and
$52,750.60.
D) All are correct practical interpretations of this interval.

30) To help consumers assess the risks they are taking, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 30)
publishes the amount of nicotine found in all commercial brands of cigarettes. A new cigarette has
recently been marketed. The FDA tests on this cigarette yielded mean nicotine content of 26.5
milligrams and standard deviation of 2.6 milligrams for a sample of n = 9 cigarettes. Construct a
90% confidence interval for the mean nicotine content of this brand of cigarette.
A) 26.5 ± 1.612 B) 26.5 ± 1.685 C) 26.5 ± 1.589 D) 26.5 ± 1.710

31) An educator wanted to look at the study habits of university students. As part of the research, data 31)
was collected for three variables - the amount of time (in hours per week) spent studying, the
amount of time (in hours per week) spent playing video games and the GPA - for a sample of 20
male university students. As part of the research, a 95% confidence interval for the average GPA of
all male university students was calculated to be: (2.95, 3.10). The researcher claimed that the
average GPA of all male students exceeded 2.94. Using the confidence interval supplied above,
how do you respond to this claim?
A) We cannot make any statement regarding the average GPA of male university students at the
95% confidence level.
B) We are 95% confident that the researcher is incorrect.
C) We are 95% confident that the researcher is correct.
D) We are 100% confident that the researcher is incorrect.

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.

32) You are interested in purchasing a new car. One of the many points you wish to consider is 32)
the resale value of the car after 5 years. Since you are particularly interested in a certain
foreign sedan, you decide to estimate the resale value of this car with a 95% confidence
interval. You manage to obtain data on 17 recently resold 5-year-old foreign sedans of the
same model. These 17 cars were resold at an average price of $12,900 with a standard
deviation of $700. Create a 95% confidence interval for the true mean resale value of a
5-year-old car of that model.

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 33) A marketing research company is estimating the average total compensation of CEOs in 33)
the service industry. Data were randomly collected from 18 CEOs and the 99% confidence
interval was calculated to be ($2,181,260, $5,836,180). Based on the interval above, do you
believe the average total compensation of CEOs in the service industry is more than
$1,500,000?

34) The following random sample was selected from a normal population: 9, 11, 8, 10, 14, 8. 34)
Construct a 95% confidence interval for the population mean µ.

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

35) A marketing research company is estimating which of two soft drinks college students prefer. A 35)
random sample of 330 college students produced the following 95% confidence interval for the
proportion of college students who prefer one of the colas: (.330, .469). What additional
assumptions are necessary for the interval to be valid?
A) The sample was randomly selected from an approximately normal population.
B) The population proportion has an approximately normal distribution.
C) The sample proportion equals the population proportion.
D) No additional assumptions are necessary.

36) A study was conducted to determine what proportion of all college students considered themselves 36)
as full-time students. A random sample of 300 college students was selected and 210 of the
students responded that they considered themselves full-time students. A computer program was
used to generate the following 95% confidence interval for the population proportion: (0.64814,
0.75186). The sample size that was used in this problem is considered a large sample. What criteria
should be used to determine if n is large?
^ ^
A) Both np 15 and nq 15.
B) When working with proportions, any n is considered large.
C) If n > 25, then n is considered large.
D) If n > 30, then n is considered large.

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.
^
37) For n = 40 and p = .45, is the sample size large enough to construct a confidence for p? 37)

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

Answer the question True or False.

^
38) The sampling distribution for p is approximately normal for a large sample size n, where n is 38)
^ ^
considered large if both n p 15 and n(1 - p) 15.
A) True B) False

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Solve the problem.
39) What type of car is more popular among college students, American or foreign? One hundred 39)
fifty-nine college students were randomly sampled and each was asked which type of car he or she
prefers. A computer package was used to generate the printout below for the proportion of college
students who prefer American automobiles.

SAMPLE PROPORTION = .390998

SAMPLE SIZE = 159

UPPER LIMIT = .464240

LOWER LIMIT = .331153

What proportion of the sampled students prefer foreign automobiles?

A) .464240 B) .331153 C) .390998 D) .609002

40) What type of car is more popular among college students, American or foreign? One hundred 40)
fifty-nine college students were randomly sampled and each was asked which type of car he or she
prefers. A computer package was used to generate the printout below of a 90% confidence interval
for the proportion of college students who prefer American automobiles.

SAMPLE PROPORTION = .396

SAMPLE SIZE = 159

UPPER LIMIT = .460

LOWER LIMIT = .332

Based on the interval above, do you believe that 31% of all college students prefer American
automobiles?
A) Yes, and we are 100 %sure of it. B) No, and we are 90% confident of it.
C) Yes, and we are 90% confident of it. D) No, and we are 100% sure of it.

41) A newspaper reported on the topics that teenagers most want to discuss with their parents. The 41)
findings, the results of a poll, showed that 46% would like more discussion about the family's
financial situation, 37% would like to talk about school, and 30% would like to talk about religion.
These and other percentages were based on a national sampling of 549 teenagers. Using 99%
reliability, can we say that more than 30% of all teenagers want to discuss school with their
parents?
A) Yes, since the value .30 falls inside the 99% confidence interval.
B) No, since the value .30 is not contained in the 99% confidence interval.
C) Yes, since the values inside the 99% confidence interval are greater than .30.
D) No, since the value .30 is not contained in the 99% confidence interval.

42) A random sample of 4000 U.S. citizens yielded 2250 who are in favor of gun control legislation. 42)
Estimate the true proportion of all Americans who are in favor of gun control legislation using a
90% confidence interval.
A) .4375 ± .4048 B) .4375 ± .0129 C) .5625 ± .0129 D) .5625 ± .4048

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 43) A university dean is interested in determining the proportion of students who receive some sort of 43)
financial aid. Rather than examine the records for all students, the dean randomly selects 200
students and finds that 118 of them are receiving financial aid. The 95% confidence interval for p is
59 ± .07. Interpret this interval.
A) 95% of the students receive between 52% and 66% of their tuition in financial aid.
B) We are 95% confident that the true proportion of all students receiving financial aid is
between .52 and .66.
C) We are 95% confident that between 52% and 66% of the sampled students receive some sort of
financial aid.
D) We are 95% confident that 59% of the students are on some sort of financial aid.

44) A confidence interval was used to estimate the proportion of statistics students who are female. A 44)
random sample of 72 statistics students generated the following 90% confidence interval:
(.438, .642). Based on the interval, is the population proportion of females equal to 58%?
A) No, and we are 90% sure of it.
B) Maybe. 58% is a believable value of the population proportion based on the information
above.
C) Yes, and we are 90% sure of it.
D) No, the proportion is 54%.

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.

45) The U.S. Commission on Crime randomly selects 600 files of recently committed crimes in 45)
an area and finds 380 in which a firearm was reportedly used. Find a 95% confidence
interval for p, the true fraction of crimes in the area in which some type of firearm was
reportedly used.

46) A random sample of 50 employees of a large company was asked the question, "Do you 46)
participate in the company's stock purchase plan?" The answers are shown below.

yes no no yes no no yes yes no no

no yes yes yes no yes no no yes yes
no yes yes no yes yes no yes yes yes
yes no no yes yes yes yes yes no yes
no yes yes no yes yes yes yes yes yes

Use a 90% confidence interval to estimate the proportion of employees who participate in
the company's stock purchase plan.

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

47) A local men's clothing store is being sold. The buyers are trying to estimate the percentage of items 47)
that are outdated. They will choose a random sample from the 100,000 items in the store's
inventory in order to determine the proportion of merchandise that is outdated. The current owners
have never determined the percentage of outdated merchandise and cannot help the buyers. How
large a sample do the buyers need in order to be 99% confident that the margin of error of their
estimate is about 5%?
A) 1327 B) 664 C) 2653 D) 258

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 48) Sales of a new line of athletic footwear are crucial to the success of a company. The company 48)
wishes to estimate the average weekly sales of the new footwear to within $200 with 95%
reliability. The initial sales indicate that the standard deviation of the weekly sales figures is
approximately $1400. How many weeks of data must be sampled for the company to get the
information it desires?
A) 37,648 weeks B) 189 weeks C) 14 weeks D) 97 weeks

49) A previous random sample of 4000 U.S. citizens yielded 2250 who are in favor of gun control 49)
legislation. How many citizens would need to be sampled for a 99% confidence interval to estimate
the true proportion within 3%?
A) 1916 B) 1842 C) 1695 D) 1814

50) After elections were held, it was desired to estimate the proportion of voters who regretted that 50)
they did not vote. How many voters must be sampled in order to estimate the true proportion to
within 2% (e.g., + 0.02) at the 90% confidence level? Assume that we believe this proportion lies
close to 30%.
A) Cannot determine because no estimate of p or q exists in this problem.
B) n = 1421
C) n = 2017
D) n = 1692
E) n = 2401

51) It is desired to estimate the average time it takes Statistics students to finish a computer project to 51)
within two hours at 90% reliability. It is estimated that the standard deviation of the times is 14
hours. How large a sample should be taken to get the desired interval?
A) n = 189 B) n = 231 C) n = 325 D) n = 133

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.

52) A local men's clothing store is being sold. The buyers are trying to estimate the percentage 52)
of items that are outdated. They will choose a random sample from the 100,000 items in the
store's inventory in order to determine the proportion of merchandise that is outdated. The
current owners have never determined the percentage of outdated merchandise and
cannot help the buyers. How large a sample do the buyers need in order to be 90%
confident that the margin of error of their estimate is within 3%?

53) The standard deviation of a population is estimated to be 345 units. To estimate the 53)
population mean to within 49 units with 99% reliability, what size sample should be
selected?

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

54) In the construction of confidence intervals, if all other quantities are unchanged, an increase in the 54)
sample size will lead to a __________ interval.
A) less significant B) narrower C) wider D) biased

Answer the question True or False.

55) If no estimate of p exists when determining the sample size for a confidence interval for a 55)
proportion, we can use .5 in the formula to get a value for n.
A) True B) False

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