STA1501/203/3/2011

Department of Statistics
STA1501
Descriptive Statistics and Probability
Tutorial Letter 203, 2011
Trial Examination Paper and Solutions
2 STA1501/203/3
TRIAL EXAMINATION PAPER
QUESTION 1
Before leaving a particular restaurant, customers are asked to respond to the questions listed below.
Which of the following questions would elicit an ordinal response?
(1) What is the approximate distance of the restaurant from your residence?
(2) Have you eaten at the restaurant previously?
(3) On how many occasions have you eaten at the restaurant previously?
(4) Which of the following attributes of the restaurant do you nd most attractive: service, prices, quality
of the food, or varied menu?
(5) Would your overall rating of the restaurant be excellent, good, fair, or poor?
QUESTION 2
Consider the cumulative frequency distribution of the number of years of service for 100 employees shown
below
Years Cumulative frequency
0 under 5 10
5 under 10 15
10 under 15 21
15 under 20 29
20 under 25 36
Which of the following statements is incorrect?
(1) The sum of the relative frequencies for all classes will always equal one.
(2) The number of employees who have less than 10 years of service is 15.
(3) The distribution of the number of sevice for employees is symmetrical.
(4) The proportion of employees who have between 10 and 20 years of service is 0.39.
(5) The number for employees with 20 under 25 is 7.
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QUESTION 3
Which one of the following statements is incorrect?
(1) The number of students who attended both discussion classes in 2008 is a discrete variable.
(2) Your material status is a discrete variable.
(3) Whether one does poorly, fairly or well in an assignment is an ordinal variable.
(4) The amount of your student loan is a continuous variable.
(5) Your status as a full-time or part-time student is a nominal variable.
QUESTION 4
A candy manufacturer wants to know the shelf life of its candies. A sample of retailers turned up the
following shelf lives (in days):
17 2 22
12 25 14
18 7 16
18 16 12
15 10 29
26 13 16
Which statement is incorrect?
(1) The mean is 16.
(2) The median is 16.
(3) The mode is 16.
(4) The variance is 6.6598.
(5) The coeffcient of variation is 0.416.
QUESTION 5
Calculate the mean, median, lower quartile, upper quartile and the interquartile range for the following
sample data:
8 7 1 4 6 6 4 5 7 6 3 0
Which of the statements is incorrect?
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(1) x = 4.75
(2) Median = 5.5
(3) Q
1
= 4.25
(4) Q
3
= 6.75
(5) Interquartile range = 3.5
QUESTION 6
Which of the following statements is incorrect?
(1) The length of the box in the box-and-whisker plot portrays the interquartile range.
(2) Expressed in quintiles, the interquartile range is the difference between the rst and third quintiles.
(3) In left-skewed distributions, the distance from the smallest observation to Q
1
exceeds the distance from
Q
3
to the largest observation.
(4) Expressed in percentiles, the second quintile is the 40th percentile.
(5) Expressed in percentiles, the fth decile is the median.
QUESTION 7
The following table gives the service revenues (x) and expenses for supplies and postage (y) for a sample
of six local ofces:
x(1000) y(1000)
351.4 18.4
290.3 15.8
325.0 20.3
422.7 22.5
238.1 16.0
514.5 24.6
A least squares line

y = b
0
+b
1
x is determined. Which statement is incorrect?
(1) The sample covariance is equal to 0.9398.
(2) The slope b
1
= 0.0337.
(3) The sample coefcient of correlation is equal to 0.9398.
(4) The coefcient of determination r
2
is 0.8832.
(5) The estimate results in connection with the above variables x and y are not reliable.
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QUESTION 8
Consider the following data values of variables x and y :
x 8 4 12 16 9
y 5 3 7 6 5
Which of the following statements is incorrect?
(1) About 69% of the variation y can be explained by the variation in x.
(2) The coefcient of determination is always positive.
(3) The best t line is y = 2.51 + 0.27x.
(4) The coefcient of correlation is negative.
(5) There is a very strong positive linear relationship between x and y.
QUESTION 9
When coding the years 2003 to 2007 as 0 to 4, the linear trend equation is y = 10.83 + 17.238x.
The trend estimate for 2008 will be
(1) 75.36
(2) 127.07
(3) 17.28
(4) 97.02
(5) none of the above
QUESTION 10
The following table gives the tax ofce appraised values (1000) and the sales prices (1000) of 12
residential properties sold in Gauteng in 2007:
Appraised value x Sale price y Appraised value x Sale price y
45.5 60.0 66.4 109.0
42.6 57.5 69.1 96.7
51.2 66.2 73.0 85.0
40.5 51.9 41.7 58.5
61.5 75.0 56.4 109.0
84.7 110.0 102.8 155.0
where

x
i
= 735.4,

y
i
= 1033.8,

x
i
y
i
= 69246.01,

x
2
i
= 49103.5,

y
2
i
= 99492.44.
The coefcient of determination is equal to
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(1) 0.9812
(2) 0.0169
(3) 0.9906
(4) 0.8245
(5) 0.9080
QUESTION 11
Which of the following must be avoided in designing a questionnaire?
A. Short questions
B. Dichotomous questions
C. Leading questions
D. Open-ended questions
E. Demographic questions
Choose the correct option:
(1) A and B
(2) D and E
(3) B and C
(4) Only D
(5) Only C
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QUESTION 12
Which of the following statements is correct?
(1) The simplest method of collecting data is by direct observation.
(2) Self-administered questionnaires usually have a high response rate and may have a relatively high
number of correct responses.
(3) In designing a questionnaire, demographic and open-ended questions must be avoided.
(4) The only two reliable ways a researcher can make statistical inferences from a sample to a population
are personal and telephone interviews.
(5) Because experimental data tend to be more reliable or stronger than survey data, most new data in
economics, business, and many other elds, are generated by controlled experiments.
QUESTION 13
If P(A) = 0.20, P(B) = 0.30 and P (A or B) = 0.15, then P (A or B) is
(1) 0.50
(2) 0.06
(3) 0.65
(4) 0.35
(5) 0.45
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QUESTION 14
Suppose P(A) = 0.40, P(B) = 0.50, P(A B) = 0.70.
Which one of the following statements is incorrect?
(1) P (A
c
) = 0.6.
(2) A and B are independent.
(3) A and B are not mutually exclusive.
(4) P (A and B) = 0.2.
(5) P (B/A) =
5
4
.
QUESTION 15
If the event of interest is A, choose the correct option.
(1) The probability that A will not occur, is (1 P (A)) .
(2) The probability that A will not occur, is the complement of A.
(3) The probability is zero if event A is impossible.
(4) The probability is one if event A is certain.
(5) All the above options are true.
QUESTION 16
A driver has four keys in his pocket. Two of the keys are identical and are the keys to his house. The
other remaining two keys are for the truck and his ofce. If the driver takes one key from his pocket at
random, the probability that it will be the key to his ofce is
(1) 0.25
(2) 1.00
(3) 0.33
(4) 0.05
(5) 0.01
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QUESTION 17
Let X be a discrete random variable with the probability distribution given in the following table:
x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
P(x) 0.05 0.2 0.35 0.2 0.1 0.05 0.05
Which one of the following statements is incorrect?
(1) P (x 3) = 0, 6
(2) P (x = 3) = P (4 x 6)
(3) E(x) = 3.45
(4) variance
2
= 2.0475
(5) = 1.3409
QUESTION 18
Fifteen trials are conducted in a Bernoulli process in which the probability of success in a given trial is
0.3. If X is the number of successes, calculate the variance.
(1) 15.3
(2) 0.1268
(3) 3.15
(4) 4.5
(5) cannot be calculated without data set.
QUESTION 19
It has been observed that cars pass at a certain point on a rural road at the average rate of 3 per hour.
Assume that the instants at which the cars pass are independent and let X be the number that pass this
point in a 30-minute interval. P(X 2) is equal to
(1) 0.4232
(2) 0.5768
(3) 0.8009
(4) 0.1912
(5) 0.4422
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QUESTION 20
Suppose a uniform distribution is dened over the interval from 2 to 5.
Which one of the following statements is incorrect?
(1) The values for a and b are 2 and 5.
(2) The mean is 3.5.
(3) The standard derivation is 0.75.
(4) The total area is 1.00.
(5) The probability of a value greater than 2.6 is 0.8.
QUESTION 21
It has been reported that households in a certain city spend an annual average of R6050 on groceries.
Assume a normal distribution with a standard deviation of R1500. What is the probability that a randomly
selected household spends between R5900 and R6350 on groceries?
(1) 0.1191
(2) 0.4206
(3) 0.0395
(4) 0.8185
(5) 0.1359
QUESTION 22
If the area to the right of a positive z
1
is 0.0869, then the value of z
1
must be
(1) 0.9131
(2) 1.7100
(3) 1.3600
(4) 0.4131
(5) 0.2200
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QUESTION 23
For a simple random sample, n = 1000 and p = 0.47. At the 0.05 level with H
0
: p = 0.50 vs p A 0.50
Which of the following statements are correct?
(1) The test statistic z = 1.897 and pvalue = 0.0574
(2) The test statistic z = 1.978 and pvalue = 0.0367
(3) The test statistic z = 1.897 and pvalue = 0.0287
(4) The test statistic z = 120 and pvalue = 0.0574
(5) The test statistic z = 0.5 and pvalue = 0.3085
QUESTION 24
A random sample of size 15 drawn from a normally distributed population with standard deviation
= 1.2 produced the mean x = 14.0. The estimate of the population mean of the sample with
95% condence is
(1) (13.3928, 14.6073)
(2) (13.4903, 14.5097)
(3) (13.4456, 14.5544)
(4) (11.6480, 16.3520)
(5) (13.45449, 14.5456)
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QUESTION 25
The EXCEL output for t-test for two sample assuming equal variances is given below:
ttest: Two sample assuming equal variances
Females (7 days) Females (14 days)
Mean 4.35 4.76
Variance 0.72 1.48
Observations 66 66
Pooled variance 1.10
Difference 0
Degrees of freedom 130
t-test Statistic 2.24
P-value one - tail 0.0134
Critical value one - tail 1.6567
P- value two-tail 0.0268
Critical value two-tail 1.9784
Which one of the following statements is incorrect?
(1) Since ttest statistic 2.24 is less than 1.6567 we cannot reject H
0
:
1

2
= 0 against H
1
:
1
>
2
(2) Since ttest statistic 2.24 is less than 1.9784 we cannot reject H
0
:
1

2
= 0 against H
1
:
1
>
2
(3) Since pvalue 0.0268 is less than 0.05 we can reject H
0
:
1

2
= 0 against H
1
:
1
=
2
(4) Since pvalue 0.0134 is less than 0.05 we can reject H
0
:
1

2
= 0 against H
1
:
1
>
2
(5) Degrees of freedom is n
1
+n
2
1
13 STA1501/203/3
Formulae / Formules
X =

Xi
n
S
2
=

(Xix)
n1
P(A or B) = P(A) +P(B) P(A and B)
P(A/B) =
P(A and B)
P(B)

2
=

(X )
2
P(X)
V (X +Y ) = V (X) +V (Y ) + 2CoV (X, Y )
P(x) =
n!
x! (n x)!
P
x
(1 P)
nx
P(x) =
e

x
x!
P(x) = P(X x) P(X (x 1))
X z

n
Z =
X

Z =
X

n
p =
x
n
z =
p p
_
p (1 p)
n
s
2
p
=
(n
1
1) s
2
1
+ (n
2
1) s
2
2
n
1
+n
2
2
14 STA1501/203/3
Z =
( x
1
x
2
) (
1

2
)
_
_
s
2
1
n
1
+
s
2
2
n
2
_
t =
( x
1
x
2
) (
1

2
)
_
s
2
p
_
1
n
1
+
1
n
2
_
15 STA1501/203/3
SOLUTIONS TO TRIAL EXAMINATION PAPER
QUESTION 1
Responses to questions (1) and (3) are interval, responses to questions (2) and (4) are nominal, response
to question (5) is ordinal.
Option (5)
QUESTION 2
Years Frequencies Cumulative Relative
Frequencies Frequencies
0 under 5 10 10 0.28
5 under 10 5 15 0.14
10 under 15 6 21 0.17
15 under 20 8 29 0.22
20 under 25 7 36 0.19
TOTAL 36 1.00
(1) Correct
(2) Correct
(3) Incorrect
(4) Correct
(5) Correct
Option (3)
QUESTION 3
Marital status is nominal.
Option (2)
QUESTION 4
x =
1
n
n

i=1
x
i
=
288
18
= 16
16 STA1501/203/3
Median = 16
Mode = 16
Variance
2
=
1
n 1
_
n

i=1
x
2
i

(

x
i
)
2
n
_
=
1
17
_
5362
(299)
2
18
_
= 44.3529 = s = 6.6598
Coefcient of variation =
s
x
= 0.416
Option (4)
QUESTION 5
Ordering the data:
0 1 3 4 4 5 6 6 6 7 7 8
x =
57
12
= 4.75
Median =
5 + 6
2
= 5.5
Pos. of Q
1
= (12 + 1)
25
100
= 3.25 = Q
1
= 3.25
Pos. of Q
3
= (12 + 1)
75
100
= 9.74 = Q
3
= 6.75
Interquartile range = Q
3
Q
1
= 3.5
Option (3)
QUESTION 6
The interquartile range is the difference between the 1st and 3rd quartiles.
Option (2)
17 STA1501/203/3
QUESTION 7
s
xy
=
1
n 1
_

x
i
y
i

x
i

y
i
n
_
=
1
5
_
43627.05
(2142)(117.6)
6
_
= 328.77
b
1
=
s
xy
s
2
x
=
1643.85
48764.2
= 0.0337
r =
s
xy
s
x
s
y
=
1643.85

48764.2 62.74
= 0.9398
The coefcient of determination r
2
= (0.9390)
2
= 0.8832.
Option (5): Incorrect. The result are reliable since r = 0.9390. (strong relationship)
Option (5)
QUESTION 8
Least squares line coefcients are
b
1
=
s
xy
s
2
x
S
xy
=
1
n 1
_
x
i
y
i

x
i
y
i
n
_
=
1
4
_
277
(49) (26)
5
_
=
222
4
= 5.55
s
2
x
=
1
n 1
_
_
x
2
i
_

(x
i
)
2
n
_
=
1
4
_
561
2401
5
_
=
80.8
4
= 20.2
b
1
=
5.55
20.2
= 0.2748
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b
0
= y b
1
x
y =
y
i
n
=
26
5
= 5.2
x =
x
i
n
=
49
5
= 9.8
b
0
= 5.2 0.2748 (9.8) = 2.507
y = 2.507 + 0.275x
s
2
y
=
1
n 1
_
y
2
i

(y
i
)
2
n
_
=
1
4
_
144
(26)
2
5
_
=
8.8
4
= 2.2
The coefcient of correlation
r =
s
xy
s
x
s
y
=
5.55

20.2

2.2
= 0.8325
The coefcient of determination r
2
= 0.6931.
Option (4)
QUESTION 9
The linear trend equation is y = 10.83 + 17.238x.
The trend estimate is
y = 10.83 + 17.238 (5) = 75.36.
Option (1)
QUESTION 10
(n 1)s
xy
= 5891.3
(n 1)s
2
x
= 4035.7367
(n 1)s10430.57
The coefcient of determination r
2
=
(s
xy
)
2
s
2
x
s
2
y
= 0.8245.
Option (4)
19 STA1501/203/3
QUESTION 11
Avoid leading questions and dichotomous questions.
Option (3)
QUESTION 12
The simplest method of collecting data is by direct observation.
Option (1)
QUESTION 13
P(A or B) = P(A) +P(B) P(A and B)
P (A and B) = P (A) +P (B) P (A or B)
= 0.2 + 0.3 0.15
= 0.35
Option (4)
QUESTION 14
(1) Correct.
P (A
c
) = 1 P (A) = 1 0.4 = 0.6
(2) Correct.
P (A and B) = P (A) P (B)
P (A and B) = P (A) +P (B) P (A and B)
= 0.4 + 0.5 0.7 = 0.2
P (A) P (B) = (0.4) (0.5) = 0.2
(3) Correct.
P (A and B) = 0
(4) Correct.
20 STA1501/203/3
(5) Incorrect.
P (B/A) =
P (A and B)
P (A)
=
0.2
0.4
=
1
2
Option (5)
QUESTION 15
Option (5)
QUESTION 16
The probability that it will be the key to his ofce =
1
4
= 0.25
Option (1)
QUESTION 17
(1) Correct.
P (x 3) = 0.05 + 0.2 + 0.35 = 0.6
(2) Correct.
(3) Correct.
E(X) =

all x
xP(x)
= 3.45
(4) Correct.
V (X) =

all x
x
2
P(x)
2
= 13.95 (3.45)
2
= 2.0475
(5) Incorrect.
Standard deviation =

2.0475 = 1.4309
Option (5)
21 STA1501/203/3
QUESTION 18
X b(15, 0.3) = 0.3 = 15
Variance = N (1 ) = 15 0.3 (1 0.3) = 3.15.
Option (3)
QUESTION 19
=
3
2
= 1.5
P(X 2) = 1 P(X 1)
= 1 0.5578 = 0.4422
Option (5)
QUESTION 20
(1) Correct.
a = 2 b = 5
(2) Correct.
=
a +b
2
=
2 + 5
2
=
7
2
= 3.5
(3) Incorrect.
=
_
(b a)
2
12
=
_
(5 2)
2
12
=

0.75 = 0.866
(4) Correct.
The total area within a continuous probability distribution is equal to 1.00.
(5) Correct.
The area within the distribution for the interval 2.6 to 5 represents this particular probability.
P (2.6 < x < 5) =
1
b a
(5 2.6)
=
1
5 2
(2.4)
= 0.8
Option (4)
22 STA1501/203/3
QUESTION 21
X n(6050, 1500
2
)
P(5900 < x < 6350) = P
_
5900 6050
1500
< z <
6350 6050
1500
_
= P(0.1 < z < 0.2)
= 0.5793 0.4602 = 0.1191
Option (1)
QUESTION 22
Option (3) (using table 3)
QUESTION 23
test statistic z =
p P
_
P(1P)
n
=
0.47 0.5
_
0.5(10.5)
1000
= 1.8974
Pvalue = P (z < 1.90) = 0.0287
Option (3)
QUESTION 24
x z

n
14 1.96
1.2

15
14 0.6073
(14 0.6073; 14 + 0.6073)
(13.3928; 14.6073)
Option (1)
QUESTION 25
Option (5) degrees of freedom: n
1
+n
2
2