7.

54 Brass Rivets A producer of brass rivets randomly samples 400 rivets each hour and calculates the
proportion of defectives in the sample. The mean sample proportion calculated from 200 samples was
equal to .021. Construct a control chart for the proportion of defectives in samples of 400 rivets. Explain
how the control chart can be of value to a manager.

7.56 Coal Burning Power Plant A coal-burning power plant tests and measures three specimens of coal
each day to monitor the percentage of ash in the coal. The overall mean of 30 daily sample means and
the combined standard deviation of all the data were x__ _ 7.24 and s _ .07, respectively. Construct an x_
chart for the process and explain how it can be of value to the manager of the power plant.

7.64 Hard Hats The safety requirements for hard hats worn by construction workers and others,
established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), specify that each of three hats pass the
following test. A hat is mounted on an aluminum head form. An 8-pound steel ball is dropped on the hat
from a height of 5 feet, and the resulting force is measured at the bottom of the head form. The force
exerted on the head form by each of the three hats must be less than 1000 pounds, and the average of
the three must be less than 850 pounds. (The relationship between this test and actual human head
damage is unknown.) Suppose the exerted force is normally distributed, and hence a sample mean of
three force measurements is normally distributed. If a random sample of three hats is selected from a
shipment with a mean equal to 900 and s _ 100, what is the probability that the sample mean will satisfy
the ANSI standard?

7.68 9/11 A study of about n _ 1000 individuals in the United States during September 2122, 2001,
revealed that 43% of the respondents indicated that they were less willing to fly following the events of
September 11, 2001.19
a. Is this an observational study or a designed experiment?
b. What problems might or could have occurred because of the sensitive nature of the subject? What
kinds of biases might have occurred?

7.70 Rh Positive The proportion of individuals with an Rh-positive blood type is 85%. You have a random
sample of n _ 500 individuals.

a. What are the mean and standard deviation of p, the sample proportion with Rh-positive blood type?
b. Is the distribution of p approximately normal? Justify your answer.
c. What is the probability that the sample proportion p exceeds 82%?
d. What is the probability that the sample proportion lies between 83% and 88%?
e. 99% of the time, the sample proportion would lie between what two limits?

7.72 Elevator Loads The maximum load (with a generous safety factor) for the elevator in an office
building is 2000 pounds. The relative frequency distribution of the weights of all men and women using
the elevator is mound-shaped (slightly skewed to the heavy weights), with mean m equal to 150 pounds
and standard deviation s equal to 35 pounds. What is the largest number of people you can allow on the
elevator if you want their total weight to exceed the maximum weight with a small probability (say, near
.01)? (HINT: If x1, x2, . . . , xn are independent observations made on a random variable x, and if x has
mean m and variance s2, then the mean and variance of Sxi are nm and ns2, respectively. This result was
given in Section 7.4.)

7.82 Total Packing Weight Packages of food whose average weight is 16 ounces with a standard
deviation of 0.6 ounces are shipped in boxes of 24 packages. If the package weights are approximately
normally distributed, what is the probability that a box of 24 packages will weigh more than 392 ounces
(24.5 pounds)?

8.32 MP3 Players Do you own an iPod Nano or a Sony Walkman Bean? These and other brands of MP3
players are becoming more and more popular among younger Americans. An iPod survey reported that
54% of 12- to 17-year-olds, 30% of 18- to 34-year-olds, and 13% of 35- to 54-year-olds own MP3
players.6 Suppose that these three estimates are based on random samples of size 400, 350, and 362,
respectively.

a. Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate for the proportion of 12- to 17-year-olds who own an
MP3 player.
b. Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate for the proportion of 18- to 34-year-olds who own an
MP3 player.

8.34 Legal Abortions The results of a Newsweek poll concerning views on abortion given in Exercise 7.66
showed that of n _ 1002 adults, 39% favored the right-to-life stand, while 53% were pro-choice.7
The poll reported a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.

a. Construct a 90% confidence interval for the proportion of adult Americans who favor the right-tolife
position.
b. Construct a 90% confidence interval for the proportion of adult Americans who favor the pro-choice
position.

8.38 Rocking the Vote How likely are you to vote in the next presidential election? A random sample of
300 adults was taken, and 192 of them said that they always vote in presidential elections.

a. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of adult Americans who say they always vote in
presidential elections.
b. An article in American Demographics reports this percentage of 67%.10 Based on the interval
constructed in part a, would you disagree with their reported percentage? Explain.
c. Can we use the interval estimate from part a to estimate the actual proportion of adult Americans who
vote in the 2008 presidential election? Why or why not?

8.46 Biology Skills Refer to Exercise 8.43. In addition to tests involving biology concepts, students were
also tested on process skills. The results of pretest and posttest scores, published in The American
Biology Teacher, are given below.11
Sample Standard
Mean Size Deviation
Pretest: All BACC Classes 10.52 395 4.79
Pretest: All Traditional 11.97 379 5.39
Posttest: All BACC Classes 14.06 376 5.65
Posstest: All Traditional 12.96 308 5.93

a. Find a 95% confidence interval for the mean score on process skills for the posttest for all BACC
classes.
b. Find a 95% confidence interval for the mean score on process skills for the posttest for all traditional
classes.
c. Find a 95% confidence interval for the difference in mean scores on process skills for the posttest
BACC classes and the posttest traditional classes.
d. Does the confidence interval in c provide evidence that there is a real difference in the mean process
skills scores between posttest BACC and traditional class scores? Explain.

8.48 Noise and Stress To compare the effect of stress in the form of noise on the ability to perform a
simple task, 70 subjects were divided into two groups. The first group of 30 subjects acted as a control,
while the second group of 40 were the experimental group. Although each subject performed the
task in the same control room, each of the experimental group subjects had to perform the task while loud
rock music was played. The time to finish the task was recorded for each subject and the following
summary was obtained:

Control Experimental
n 30 40
x_ 15 minutes 23 minutes
s 4 minutes 10 minutes
a. Find a 99% confidence interval for the difference in mean completion times for these two groups.
b. Based on the confidence interval in part a, is there sufficient evidence to indicate a difference in the
average time to completion for the two groups? Explain.

8.50 Independent random samples of n1 _ 500 and

n2 _ 500 observations were selected from binomial
populations 1 and 2, and x1 _ 120 and x2 _ 147 successes
were observed.
a. What is the best point estimator for the difference
( p1 _ p2) in the two binomial proportions?
b. Calculate the approximate standard error for the
statistic used in part a.
c. What is the margin of error for this point estimate?

8.52 Independent random samples of n1 _ 1265 and

n2 _ 1688 observations were selected from binomial
populations 1 and 2, and x1 _ 849 and x2 _ 910 successes
were observed.
a. Find a 99% confidence interval for the difference
( p1 _ p2) in the two population proportions. What
does 99% confidence mean?
b. Based on the confidence interval in part a, can you
conclude that there is a difference in the two binomial
proportions? Explain.

8.60 Generation Next Born between 1980 and 1990, Generation Next have lived in a postCold War world
and a time of relative economic prosperity in America, but they have also experienced September 11th
and the fear of another attack, two Gulf Wars, the tragedy at Columbine High School, Hurricane
Katrina, and the increasing polarization of public discourse. More than any who came before, Generation
Next is engaged with technology, and the vast majority is dependent upon it.15 Suppose that a survey of
500 female and 500 male students in Generation Next, 345 of the females and 365 of the males reported
that they decided to attend college in order to make more money.

a. Construct a 98% confidence interval for the difference in the proportions of female and male students
who decided to attend college in order to make more money.
b. What does it mean to say that you are 98% confident?
c. Based on the confidence interval in part a, can you conclude that there is a difference in the
proportions of female and male students who decided to attend college in order to make more money?

8.64 Fill in the blanks in the table below and find the necessary sample sizes.