Statistics II

Exercises Chapter 1

1. A simple random sample of ten X-cars achieved the following fuel consumption figures (in miles per
gallon):
27.2 27.2 26.8 26.9 25.3 26.0 26.4 25.7 28.1 25.7
Another independent simple random sample of twelve Y-cars achieved the following results:
24.2

24.3

25.3

24.8

25.1

25.0

24.9

23.9

26.0

26.1

26.0

26.3

Using the following information obtained in Excel, answer the questions below:

(a) Use an unbiased estimation procedure to find point estimates for the population mean X and
2
population variance X
.
(b) Use an unbiased estimation procedure to find a point estimate for the population proportion
pX of those X-cars whose fuel consumption exceeds 25.8.
(c) Use an unbiased estimation procedure to find point estimates for the population mean Y and
population variance Y2 .
(d) Use an unbiased estimation procedure to find a point estimate for the population proportion
pY of those Y-cars whose fuel consumption exceeds 25.8.
(e) Use an unbiased estimation procedure to obtain a point estimate of the difference in population
mean fuel consumption between X-cars and Y-cars, that is, of X Y .
(f) Use an unbiased estimation procedure to obtain a point estimate of the difference between the
population proportion of X-cars achieving more than 25.8 and the population proportion of
Y-cars achieving more than 25.8, that is, of pX pY .
2. We take a simple random sample of size n = 400 from a population X and construct an 95%
confidence interval for the unknown population mean X (the population standard deviation is
assumed to be known, X = 1). Based on the same sample we construct an 80% confidence
interval for the unknown population mean X .
We repeat this scheme 300 times. As the result we obtain 300 confidence intervals at an 95% level
and the twin 300 confidence intervals at an 80% confidence level. Both sets of intervals are plotted
below.

7.6

7.5

7.4

300
250
200
0

50

100

Index

250
200
150
0

50

100

Index

7.7

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150

300

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7.3

7.7

Confidence Interval

7.6

7.5

7.4

7.3

Confidence Interval

(a) Which graph, left or right, shows the 95% confidence intervals for X and which shows the
80% confidence intervals for X ? Justify your answer.
(b) For each graph, say how many (approximately) of those 300 intervals will cover X and how
many will not.
3. The average age for all Spanish cabinet ministers at the time of their appointment is 55. We take a
simple random sample of 30 ministers. Would it make sense to construct a 95% confidence interval
for the population mean age?
4. Let z be an upper (0, 1) quantile of the standard normal distribution, that is, z satisfies
P (Z > z ) = , where Z N (0, 1). If increases, does z increase or decrease? Justify.
2
) and Y N (Y , Y2 ). We take
5. Consider two normally distributed populations, X N (X , X
200 simple random samples of size n = 100 from X and, assuming that the population standard
deviation is known, construct an 95% confidence interval for the population mean for each sample.

We take 200 simple random samples of size n = 100 from Y and, assuming that the population
standard deviation is known, construct an 95% confidence interval for the population mean for each
sample.

2.0

1.5

1.0

200

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150

50

Index

100
50
0

Index

150

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100

200

The constructed intervals are:

0.5

0.0

0.0

Confidence interval

0.5

1.0

1.5

Confidence interval

2.0

(a) Knowing that X = 1 and Y = 3 identify each graph with its respective population (either
X or Y ). Justify your answer.
(b) For each graph, say how many (approximately) of those 200 intervals will cover either X or
Y and how many will not.

0.0

Bernoulli(0.3)
Bernoulli(0.7)
Bernoulli(0.3)
Bernoulli(0.7)

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

50
40
30
10

Index
1.0

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

20

30

40
0.8

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

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10

10

20

Index

30

40

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0.0

0.2

Confidence interval

50

Confidence interval

X
X
X
X

Index

n = 400,
n = 400,
n = 100,
n = 100,

50

I.
II.
III.
IV.

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Index

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40

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20

50

6. The following four graphs show confidence intervals (at an 95% confidence level) for the unknown
population proportion pX , based on 50 simple random samples of size n from X, under four scenarios
I-IV. Identify each scenario with its graph.

1.0

Confidence interval

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Confidence interval

7. The confidence interval for the population mean X is symmetrical about the sample mean x
. Is
2
symmetrical about the sample quasi variance
the confidence interval for the population variance X
s2x ? Justify.
8. A 99% confidence interval for the population mean level of satisfaction of students with their cars
was found to be (75.7, 82.5). Would it therefore be proper to say that the probability is 0.99 that
the population mean satisfaction level is between 75.7 and 82.5? If not, replace this statement by
a valid one.
9. A manufacturer is concerned about the variability of the levels of impurity contained in consignments
of raw material from a supplier. A random sample of fifteen consignments showed a quasi-standard
deviation of 2.36% in the impurity concentration levels. Assume a normal population distribution.
(a) Find and interpret a 95% confidence interval for the population variance.
(b) Would a 99% confidence interval for this variance be wider or narrower than that found in the
previous part? Justify without doing any calculations.
(c) Find and interpret a 95% confidence interval for the population standard deviation.
10. The members of a random sample of fifty four union stewards were asked how often they talked
employees out of filing grievances. Of these sample members, fourteen answered never to this
question. Based on this information, a Statistics student calculated a confidence interval running
from 16% to 36% for the population percentage of union stewards who never talk employees out of
filing grievances.
(a) Find the level of confidence associated with this interval.
(b) Construct and interpret a 80% confidence interval for the population percentage in question.

11. Scores obtained by a large group of students taking a test are known to be normally distributed. A
random sample of twenty five test scores yielded the following statistics:
25
X

xi = 1508

i=1

25
X

x2i = 95628

i=1

(a) Find and interpret a 90% confidence interval for the population mean.
(b) Without doing any calculations, say if a 95% confidence interval for the population mean will
be narrower or wider than the preceding one.
12. UC3M is concerned about the amount of time its students spend studying each week. A random
sample of sixteen students had mean weekly study time 18.36 h and a sample quasi standard
deviation of 3.92 h. Assume that the study times are normally distributed.
(a) Find and interpret a 90% confidence interval for the average amount of study time per week
for all students at UC3M.
(b) State without doing the calculations, whether the interval would be wider or narrower under
each of the following conditions:
i. The sample contained thirty students (with everything else the same).
ii. The sample quasi standard deviation was 4.15 h (with everything else the same).
iii. An 80% confidence interval was required (with everything else the same).
(c) If the population was not normally distributed, would you be able to construct the confidence
interval for the population mean? Justify. What kind of remedy would you suggest to fix the
problem?
(d) Construct and interpret a 90% confidence interval for the population standard deviation.
13. A process producing bricks is known to give an output whose weights are normally distributed with
standard deviation 0.12 lb. A random sample of sixteen bricks from todays output had a mean
weight of 4.07 lb.
(a) Find and interpret a 95% confidence interval for the mean weight of all bricks produced this
day.
(b) Your boss thinks that the interval constructed in the previous part is too wide and would like
you to reduce its length by half. By how many observations do you need to increase your
current sample size to achieve that goal?

(c) Give the value of the standard error of X.

14. A University keeps track of the salaries of its alumni. For a sample of 20 alumni from a given
school it has observed that the sample mean of the monthly salary one year after graduation is 1700
euros, and its standard deviation is 350 euros. We assume that the population follows a normal
distribution.
(a) Compute a confidence interval at the 95% level for the mean monthly salary of all alumni of
the school.
(b) Which would be the value of the interval if the confidence level is selected as 99%?
(c) Which sample sizes would yield intervals of size smaller than 100 euros, if the values of the
sample mean and standard deviation remain unchanged, and the confidence level is 95%?
15. A company applies a quality control procedure to the products sent by a supplier. For one of
the attributes of the product that the company wishes to control, a simple random sample of 20
products is selected and measured, and a sample standard deviation equal to 2.3 is obtained. We
assume that the values of this attribute follow a normal distribution.
(a) Compute a confidence interval at the 90% level for the population variance.
(b) Assuming that for another sample of size 40 we obtain the same sample standard deviation
value, which would be the value of the variance confidence interval for this sample, using the
same confidence level?

16. A market study has been conducted on 64 persons. They have been asked if they would be interested
in purchasing two products, A and B. 36 have given an affirmative answer for the first product,
while 32 have shown an interest in the second product and 26 are interested in both.
You are asked to:
(a) Use an unbiased estimation procedure to estimate the percentage of consumers interested in
purchasing both products.
(b) Use an unbiased estimation procedure to estimate the percentage of consumers interested in
purchasing the first product but not the second one.
(c) Indicate the variance of the estimator used to answer this second question and estimate its
value from the sample.
(d) Compute a confidence interval for the percentage of consumers interested in purchasing the
first product but not the second one (as in the second question) for a confidence level of 90%.
(e) Discussion-stimulating question. Compute another (approximate) confidence interval for this
proportion and for the same confidence level, but with the property that the left endpoint of
the interval is equal to zero.
17. The management of a large retailer has reasons to believe that the age of the clients that visit a
certain center follows a normal distribution with standard deviation equal to 5. A simple random
sample of 100 clients of this center yields an average age of 30. You are asked to:
(a) Obtain a confidence interval at a confidence level of 96% for the average age of all clients
visiting this center.
(b) What would be the smallest sample size that would ensure a length for this confidence interval
of at most 1?
(c) Compute the probability that the sample quasi variance is less than 19.67.
(d) In the sample you have identified 25 persons as foreigners. Compute a confidence interval for
the proportion of foreigners that shopped in this center for a confidence level of 95%.
(e) The sales director of the retailer tells you that she has another (independent) sample for the
proportion of foreigners in their centers, with a sample size of 200 and a sample proportion
of 20%. Provide an improved confidence interval (at a 95% level) for this proportion using all
the information that you have available.
(f) If the sample size is large enough, it is known that the sample median follows a normal
2
m . If we wish to compare the
distribution with mean and variance 2 n ; we denote it by X
efficiency of the sample median and the sample mean, which of the two estimators is more
efficient for n large?
18. The number of tickets sold for a given weekly plane route is assumed to follow a normal distribution.
A simple random sample of 81 values of weekly ticket purchases has been collected for this flight.
For this sample the average number of tickets sold (in one week) is 112, with a quasi standard
deviation of 36. We know that among these 81 flights, 30 of them arrived at its destination with a
delay longer than fifteen minutes.
(a) Compute a confidence interval at the 95% level for the population variance of the number of
tickets sold per flight.
(b) Compute a confidence interval at the 95% level for the proportion in the population of flights
arriving with a delay longer than 15 minutes.
(c) Based on the results obtained for the preceding questions, comment on the following statements, reasoning if they are true or false:
i. Based on the sample information and assuming that the proportion does not change, if we
wish to obtain a 95% confidence interval for the population proportion of flights with a
delay larger than 15 minutes with a length of at most 0.1, we would need to have a sample
size of at least 200 observations.
ii. At a 99% confidence level, the confidence interval for the population variance of the number
of tickets sold per flight contains the value 1000.

iii. For certain sample values, the confidence interval for the population proportion of flights
with a delay longer than fifteen minutes might include negative values.
19. A clinic offers weight reduction treatments. It is assumed that the weight loss observed after a
two-month treatment follows a normal distribution. A simple random sample of 40 patients has
been collected and the corresponding values are available in the Excel file data ex1.xlsx
Using Excel answer the following questions:
(a) Compute a confidence interval at the 99% level for the weight loss of all patients following the
treatment.
(b) Which would be the value of the interval if the confidence level is selected as 90%?
(c) Compute a confidence interval for the variance of the weight loss at the 99% level.
20. You have collected data from 46 of your main customers regarding their expectations for the
change in their demand during the coming year. This information is available in the Excel file
data ex1.xlsx (Sample 1). We assume that these forecasts constitute a simple random sample,
and the population values follow a normal distribution.
(a) Compute a confidence interval at the 90% and the 99% level for the expected change in demand
for the coming year.
(b) Compute a confidence interval at the 99% level for the standard deviation of the population
(the expected change in the demand).
(c) Later on, you have collected an additional set of 18 values for the expected changes (Sample
2). We assume these values correspond to the same population and are independent from
those in the initial sample. Which would be the revised values of the confidence intervals (for
a level of 99%) if you were to use all the available information?
(d) Would it be reasonable to expect that there will be no change in your demand for the coming
year?
21. The width of p
the interval for the population proportion, pX , at a (1 ) confidence level is given
by w = 2z/2 px (1 px )/n. For a fixed confidence level and for a fixed sample size n, plot this
width as a function of the observed sample proportion px using Excel (for example, take = 0.05
and n = 100).
For what value of px is this interval the widest?
22. For data of Problem 1, find a 95% confidence interval for the population mean X (what do you
need to assume?) and a 90% confidence interval for the population mean Y (what do you need to
assume?) in Excel.
23. Let 2n; be an upper (0, 1) quantile of the 2n distribution, that is, 2n; satisfies P (2n >
2n; ) = . For a fixed n (for example, n = 10) plot 2n; as a function of in Excel.