BBBS101

Business Statistics
Review Exercises
1.

A random sample of 50 people are selected and asked who they will vote for, and 32 of
them say they will vote for the government. Does this suggest that the government will get
more than half of the vote? Use both critical value and p-value approach.

2.

Ten male / female twin pairs were assessed or the time it takes to complete a task, in
minutes.
Pair
Male
Female

1
5
4

2
6
6

3
8
7

4
4
5

5
7
9

6
9
6

7
3
6

8
9
5

9 10
11 6
8 7

Is there any difference on average between times taken by males and females to
perform this task?
3.

100 women and 100 men were asked to identify the location of a town. Sixty of the women
were correct, while only 45 of the men were correct. Based on these data, would you reject
the proportions able to correctly identify the town location are the same for women and
men if using a 5% significance level?

4.

A machine should fill cans to 374 ml. during a quality control check 10 cans were
measured and the volumes in ml were as below:
376

374

372

373

373

371

374

377

375

374

Does this provide evidence of inaccurate filling?

5.

A Harris Interactive survey for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts asked respondents,
When traveling internationally, do you generally venture out on your own to experience
culture, or stick with your tour group and itineraries? The survey found that 23 % of the
respondents stick with their tour group. (US Today, January 21, 2004).
a. In a sample of six international travelers, what is the probability that two will stick with
their tour group?
b. In a sample of six international travelers, what is the probability that at least two will
stick with their tour group?
c. In a sample of ten international travelers, what is the probability that none will stick
with the tour group?

BBBS101 / Business Statistics / Review / Jan 2015

Page 1 of 4

6.

Consider a Poisson distribution with a mean of two occurrences per time period.
a. What is the expected number of occurrences in three time periods?
b. Compute the probability of two occurrences in one time period.
c. Compute the probability of six occurrences in three time periods.
d. Compute the probability of five occurrences in two time periods.

7.

An average of 15 aircrafts accidents occur each year (The World Almanac and Book of
Facts, 2004).
a. Compute the mean number of aircraft accidents per month
b. Compute the probability of no accidents during a month.
c. Compute the probability of exactly one accident during a month.
d. Compute the probability of more than one accident during a month.

8.

The following sample data are from a normal population: 10, 8, 12, 15, 13, 11, 6, 5.
a. What is the point estimate of the population mean?
b. What is the point estimate of the population standard deviation?
c. What is the 95% confidence interval for the population mean?

9.

A simple random sample with n = 54 provided a sample mean of 22.5 and a sample
standard deviation of 4.4.
a. Develop a 90% confidence interval for the population mean.
b. Develop a 95% confidence interval for the population mean.

10.

Consider the following hypothesis test:

H 0 : =15
H 1 : 15
A sample of 50 provided a sample mean of 14.15. The population standard deviation is 3.
a. Compute the value of the test statistic.
b. What is the p-value?
c. At =0.05 , what is your decision and conclusion?

11.

Individuals filling federal income tax returns prior to March 31 received an average refund
of $1056. Consider the population of last-minute filers who mail their tax return during
the last five days of the income tax period (typically April 10 to April 15).
a. A researcher suggests that a reason individuals wait until the last five days is that on
average these individuals receive lower refunds than do early filers. Develop
appropriate hypotheses.
b. For a sample of 400individuals who file a tax return, the sample mean refund was $910.
Based on prior experience a population standard deviation of =$ 1600 may be
assumed. What is the p-value?
c. At =0.05 , what is your decision and conclusion?
d. Repeat the preceding hypothesis test using the critical value approach.

BBBS101 / Business Statistics / Review / Jan 2015

Page 2 of 4

12.

A study by Consumer Reports showed that 64% of supermarket shoppers believe

supermarket brands to be as good as national name brands. To investigate whether this
result applies to its own product, the manufacturer of a national name-brand ketchup asked
a sample of shoppers whether they believed that supermarket ketchup was as good as the
national brand ketchup.
a. Formulate the hypotheses that could be used to determine whether the percentage of
supermarket shoppers who believe that the supermarket brand was as good as the
national brand ketchup.
b. If a sample of 100 shoppers showed 52 stating that the supermarket brand was as good
as the national brand, what is the p-value?
c. At =0.05 , what is your decision and conclusion?

13.

Are nursing salaries in Tampa, Florida, lower than those in Dallas, Texas? Salary data show
staff nurses in Tampa earn less than staff nurses in Dallas (The Tampa Tribune, January 15,
2007). Suppose that in a follow-up study of 40 staff nurses in Tampa and 50 staff nurses in
Dallas you obtain the following results.
Tampa
n1=40
x 1=$ 56,100
s 1=$ 6,000
a.
b.
c.
d.

14.

Dallas
n1=50
x 1=$ 59,400
s 1=$ 7,000

Formulate the hypotheses.

What is the value of the test statistic?
What is the p-value?
At =0.05 , what is your decision and conclusion?

A Businessweek/Harris survey asked senior executives at large corporations their opinions

about the economic outlook for the future. One question was, Do you think that there will
be an increase in the number of full-time employees at your company over the next 12
months? In the current survey, 220 of 400 executives answered Yes, while in a previous
year survey, 192 of 400 executives had answered Yes. Provide a 95% confidence interval
estimate for the difference between the proportions at the two points in time. What is your
interpretation of the interval estimate?

BBBS101 / Business Statistics / Review / Jan 2015

Page 3 of 4

Answers:
1. p-value = 0.0239. Reject H0.
2. t = 0.6812. Do not reject H0.
3. z = 2.12. Reject H0.
4. t = -0.1765. Do not reject H0.
5. a) 0.2789
6. a) 6

b) 0.4181

c) 0.0733

b) 0.2706

c) 0.1606

d) 0.1563

7. a) 1.25 b) 0.2865

c) 0.3581

d) 0.3554

8. a) 10 b) 3.464

c) (7.1 ; 12.9)

9. a) (21.5 ; 23.5)

b) (21.3 ; 23.7)

10. a) -2 b) 0.0456
c) Reject H0. There is enough evidence to conclude that the mean
population is not 15.
11. a)

H 0 : =1056
H 1 : <1056
b) p-value = 0.0336
c) Reject H0. There is enough evidence to suggest that the mean refund for last-minute filers
is less than $1056.
d) z = -1.83. Reject H0 if z < -1.645. Reject H0. There is enough evidence to suggest that the
mean refund for last-minute filers is less than $1056.

12. a)

H 0 : p=0.64
H 1 : p 0.64
b) z = -2.50. p-value = 0.0124
c) Reject H0. There is enough evidence to suggest that the proportion differs from the reported
0.64.

13. a)

H 0 : 12=0
H 1 : 1 2< 0
b) z = -2.41
c) p-value = 0.008
c) Reject H0. There is enough evidence to suggest that the salary for nurses is lower is Tampa
compared to Dallas.

14. (0.0009; 0.1391). We are 95% confident that the difference between the proportions at the two
points in time is between 0.0009 and 0.1391.

BBBS101 / Business Statistics / Review / Jan 2015

Page 4 of 4