MATH 115,

PROBABILITY & STATISTICS

N. PSOMAS

Ch. 5.1 - HOMEWORK (SOLUTIONS)

Section 5.1
5.9 Generating a sampling distribution. Lets illustrate the idea of a sampling distribution in
the case of a very small sample from a very small population. The population is the 10
scholarship players currently on your mens basketball team. For convenience, the 10 players
have been labeled with the integers 0 to 9. For each player, the total amount of time spent (in
minutes) on Facebook during the last month is recorded in the table below.

The parameter of interest is the average amount of time on Facebook. The sample is an SRS of
size n = 3 drawn from this population of players. Because the players are labeled 0 to 9, a single
random digit from Table B chooses one player for the sample.
(a) Find the mean of the 10 players in the population. This is the population mean .
(b) Use Table B to draw an SRS of size 3 from this population (Note: you may sample the
same players time more than once). Write down the three times in your sample and
calculate the sample mean . This statistic is an estimate of .
(c) Repeat this process 10 times using different parts of Table B. Make a histogram of the 10
values of . You are constructing the sampling distribution of .
(d) Is the center of your histogram close to ? Would it get closer to the more times you
repeated this sampling process? Explain.
Solution
(a) Mean time for ten players =338.8

(b) , (c), (d)

Sample 1
370
366
309
348.33

Sample 2 Sample 3 Sample 4

319
319
358
358
327
358
370
327
358
349.00
324.33
358.00

Sample 5 Sample 6 Sample 7 Sample 8

290
319
327
323
370
368
327
309
323
319
358
290
327.67
335.33
337.33
307.33

Sample 9 Sample 10
309
370
309
366
358
366
325.33
367.33

Average of 10 sample means =338.0

5.10 Total sleep time of college students. In Example 5.1, the total sleep time per night among
college students was approximately Normally distributed with mean = 7.02 hours and standard
deviation = 1.15 hours. Suppose you plan to take an SRS of size n = 200 and compute the
average total sleep time.
(a) What is the standard deviation for the average time?
(b) Use the 95 part of the 689599.7 rule to describe the variability of this sample mean.
(c) What is the probability that your average will be below 6.9 hours?
Solution
(a) 1.15/sqrt(200) = 0.08132
(b) 95% of sample means fall in the interval

2/sqrt(200) or 7.02 2*(0.081332) = (6.8657, 7.1826)

(c) P[x-bar < 6.9] = 0.07002 (why?)

5.11 Determining sample size. Recall the previous exercise. Suppose you want to use a sample
size such that about 95% of the averages fall within 5 minutes of the true mean = 7.02.
(a) Based on your answer to part (b) in Exercise 5.8, should the sample size be larger or
smaller than 200? Explain.
(b) What standard deviation of the average do you need such that about 95% of all samples
will have a mean within 5 minutes of ?
(c) Using the standard deviation calculated in part (b), determine the number of students you
need to sample.
Solution
(a) Larger
(b) 5' = (5/60) hr = 0.083333 hrs ==> sample mean SD should be 1/2 of 0.083333
(c) 2*(1.15)/sqrt(n) = 0.083333 == > sqrt(n) = 2*(1.15)/ 0.083333 ==> n = (27.6)^2 = 761.8 or 762

5.12 Songs on an iPod. An iPod has about 10,000 songs. The distribution of the play time for
these songs is highly skewed. Assume that the standard deviation for the population is 280
seconds.
(a) What is the standard deviation of the average time when you take an SRS of 10 songs
from this population?
(b) How many songs would you need to sample if you wanted the standard deviation of to
be 15 seconds?
Solution
(a) 280/sqrt(10) = 88.544 sec
(b) 280/sqrt(n) = 15 sec ==> sqrt(n) = 280/15 = 18.66667 ==> n = (18.7)^2 = 348.4444 or 349 songs

5.13 Bottling an energy drink. A bottling company uses a filling machine to fill cans with an
energy drink. The cans are supposed to contain 250 milliliters (ml). The machine, however, has
some variability, so the standard deviation of the size is = 3 ml. A sample of 6 cans is inspected
each hour for process control purposes, and records are kept of the sample mean volume. If the
process mean is exactly equal to the target value, what will be the mean and standard deviation
of the numbers recorded?
Solution

mean of x-bar = 250 ml & SD of x-bar = 3/sqrt(6) = 1.224745

5.14 Play times for songs on an iPod. Averages of several measurements are less variable than
individual measurements. Suppose the true mean duration of the play time for the songs in the
iPod of Exercise 5.12 is 350 seconds.
(a) Sketch on the same graph the two Normal curves, for sampling a single song and for the
mean of 10 songs.
(b) What is the probability that the sample mean differs from the population mean by more
than 19 seconds when only 1 song is sampled?
(c) How does the probability that you calculated in part (b) change for the mean of an SRS of
10 songs?
Solution
(a)

(b) Find P[ x < 350 - 19 OR x > 350 + 19] ; Here X=N(350, 280)
= P[ x < 350 - 19] + P[ x > 350 + 19] = ..... = 0.94586 or 94.6%
(c) Find P[
= P[

< 350 - 19 OR
< 350 - 19] + P[

> 350 + 19] ; Here X-bar = N(350, 280/sqt(10))

> 350 + 19] = ..... =0 .8301 or 83.0%

5.15 Can volumes. Averages are less variable than individual observations. Suppose that the can
volumes in Exercise 5.13 vary according to a Normal distribution. In that case, the mean of an
SRS of cans also has a Normal distribution.
(a) Make a sketch of the Normal curve for a single can. Add the Normal curve for the mean
of an SRS of 6 cans on the same sketch.
(b) What is the probability that the volume of a single randomly chosen can differs from the
target value by 1 ml or more?
(c) What is the probability that the mean volume of an SRS of 6 cans differs from the target
value by 1 ml or more?
Solutions
Work like in the previous exercise (5.14)

5.16 Number of friends on Facebook. Facebook provides a variety of statistics on their Web
site that detail the growth and popularity of the site. One such statistic is that the average user has
130 friends. This distribution only takes integer values, so it is certainly not Normal. Well also
assume it is skewed to the right with a standard deviation = 85. Consider an SRS of 30
Facebook users.
(a) What are the mean and standard deviation of the total number of friends in this sample?
(b) What are the mean and standard deviation of the mean number of friends per user?
(c) Use the central limit theorem to find the probability that the average number of friends in
30 Facebook users is greater than 140.
Solutions
Use the results from the Central Limit theorem and work like in the previous exercises

5.18 ACT scores of high school seniors. The scores of high school seniors on the ACT college
entrance examination in a recent year had mean = 19.2 and standard deviation = 5.1. The
distribution of scores is only roughly Normal.
(a) What is the approximate probability that a single student randomly chosen from all those
taking the test scores 23 or higher?
(b) Now take an SRS of 25 students who took the test. What are the mean and standard
deviation of the sample mean score of these 25 students?
(c) What is the approximate probability that the mean score of these students is 23 or
higher?
(d) Which of your two Normal probability calculations in parts (a) and (c) is more accurate?
Why?
Solution
Use the results from the Central Limit theorem and work like in the previous exercises

5.20 Grades in an English course. North Carolina State University posts the grade distributions
for its courses online. Students in one section of English 210 in the Fall 2008 semester received
33% As, 24% Bs, 18% Cs, 16% Ds, and 9% Fs.
(a) Using the common scale A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0, take X to be the grade of a
randomly chosen English 210 student. Use the definitions of the mean (page 261) and
standard deviation (page 269) for discrete random variables to find the mean and the
standard deviation of grades in this course.
(b) English 210 is a large course. We can take the grades of an SRS of 50 students to be
independent of each other. If is the average of these 50 grades, what are the mean and
standard deviation of ?
(c) What is the probability P(X 3) that a randomly chosen English 210 student gets a B or
better? What is the approximate probability
that the grade point average for 50
randomly chosen English 210 students is a B or better?
Solution

(a)

(b)
Letter
Grade
A
B
C
D
F

Point
equivalent
(X)
4
3
2
1
0

= sample mean in a sample of 50 students

Probability
P(x)
0.33
0.24
0.18
0.16
0.09

= 2.56
= 3.401176/

X = (x) * p(x) = 2.56

2X = (x - )2 * p(x) = 11.568
X = sqrt(11.568) = 3.401176
(c)
P(X 3) = 0.24 + 0.33 = 0.57 (Why?)
= normalcdf(3, , 2.56, 0.48099) = 0.18015806

= 0.480999

5.22 A lottery payoff. A $1 bet in a state lotterys Pick 3 game pays $500 if the three-digit
number you choose exactly matches the winning number, which is drawn at random. Here is the
distribution of the payoff X:

Each days drawing is independent of other drawings.

(a) What are the mean and standard deviation of X?
(b) Joe buys a Pick 3 ticket twice a week. What does the law of large numbers say about the
average payoff Joe receives from his bets?
(c) What does the central limit theorem say about the distribution of Joes average payoff
after 104 bets in a year?
(d) Joe comes out ahead for the year if his average payoff is greater than $1 (the amount he
spent each day on a ticket). What is the probability that Joe ends the year ahead?

5.25 Weights of airline passengers. In response to the increasing weight of airline passengers,
the Federal Aviation Administration told airlines to assume that passengers average 190 pounds
in the summer, including clothing and carry-on baggage. But passengers vary: the FAA gave a
mean but not a standard deviation. A reasonable standard deviation is 35 pounds. Weights are
not Normally distributed, especially when the population includes both men and women, but
they are not very non-Normal. A commuter plane carries 25 passengers. What is the approximate
probability that the total weight of the passengers exceeds 5200 pounds? (Hint: To apply the
central limit theorem, restate the problem in terms of the mean weight.)