Sampling Distribution Exercises

1.According to the article,“Song Dialects and Colonization in the House Finch” (Condor
(1975): 407- 422) reported the mean value of song duration for the population of house
finches is 1.5 min with a standard deviation of .9 min. Suppose an SRS of 25 finches is
selected. How likely is it that the average song duration of the sample will be greater than 1.7
min?
2.A soft drink bottler claims that, on average, cans contain 12 oz. of soda. Suppose the true
distribution of soda volumes is normally distributed with a mean of 12 oz. and a standard
deviation of .16 oz. Sixteen cans are randomly selected and their volumes are measured.
What is the probability the average volume will be between 11.96 and 12.08 oz.?
3.A hot dog manufacturer claims its most popular brand of weenie has an average fat content
of 18 g per hot dog. Suppose the standard deviation of the fat content of all hot dogs is 1 g.
An independent testing organization selects an SRS of 36 hot dogs and finds the average fat
content is 18.4 g. Does this result indicate the manufacturer’s claim is incorrect?
4.The time a randomly selected individual waits for an elevator in an office building has a
uniform distribution with a mean of 0.5 min and standard deviation of 0.289 min. What are
the mean and standard deviation of the sampling distribution of means for SRS of size 50?
Does it matter that the underlying population distribution is not normal? What is the
probability a sample of 50 people will wait longer than 45 seconds for an elevator?
5.A manufacturing process is designed to produce bolts with a 0.5 in diameter. Once each
day, a random sample of 36 bolts is selected and the average diameter is calculated. If the
sample mean is less than 0.49 in or greater than 0.51 in, the process is shut down for
adjustment. The standard deviation for the production process is .02 in. What is the
probability the process will be shut down on any given day?
6. Suppose the mean value of interpupillary distance for all adult males is 65 mm and the
population 5 mm. If 25 adult males are selected, what is the probability the average distance
for all 25 will be between 64 and 67 mm?
7. Using the information from problem 6, answer the following questions: a) Approximately
95% of the time, the sample mean falls between______ and ______ b) Approximately .3% of
the time, the sample mean is farther than ________ from the true mean.
8. 1. A random sample of size 30 is selected from a known population with a mean of 13.2
and a standard deviation of 2.1. Samples of the same size are repeatedly collected, allowing a
sampling distribution of sample means to be drawn.
a. What is the expected shape of the resulting distribution?
b. Where is the sampling distribution of sample means centered?
c. What is the approximate standard deviation of the sample means?
9. What is the probability that a random sample of 40 families will have an average of 0.5
pets or fewer where the mean of the population is 0.8 and the standard deviation of the
population is 1.2?
10. The scores of students on a college entrance exam were normally distributed with a mean
of 19.4 and a standard deviation of 6.3.
a. If a sample of 70 students who took the test (who have the same distribution as all scores)
is collected, what are the mean and standard deviation of the sample mean for the 70
students?
b. What is the probability that a random sample of 50 students will have an average score of
22 or higher?
11. Suppose the mean number of days to germination of a variety of seed is 2222,
with standard deviation 2.3 days. Find the probability that the mean germination time of
a sample of 160160 seeds will be within 0.50.5 day of the population mean.
.
12. Suppose the mean length of time that a caller is placed on hold when telephoning a
customer service center is 23.823.8 seconds, with standard deviation 4.6 seconds. Find the
probability that the mean length of time on hold in a sample of 1,200 calls will be
within 0.50.5 second of the population mean.

13. Suppose the mean amount of cholesterol in eggs labeled “large” is 186 milligrams,
with standard deviation77 milligrams. Find the probability that the mean amount of
cholesterol in a sample of 144 eggs will be within 22 milligrams of the population mean.

14. Suppose that in one region of the country the mean amount of credit card debt per
household in households having credit card debt is $15,250$15,250, with standard
deviation$7,125. Find the probability that the mean amount of credit card debt in a sample
of 1,6001,600 such households will be within $300$300 of the population mean.

15. Suppose speeds of vehicles on a particular stretch of roadway are normally distributed
with mean 36.6 mph and standard deviation 1.7 mph.
a. Find the probability that the speed XX of a randomly selected vehicle is
between 35 and 40 mph.
b. Find the probability that the mean speed X¯¯¯¯X¯ of 2020 randomly selected
vehicles is between 35 and 40 mph.

16. Many sharks enter a state of tonic immobility when inverted. Suppose that in a particular
species of sharks the time a shark remains in a state of tonic immobility when inverted is
normally distributed with mean 11.2 minutes and standard deviation 1.1 minutes.
a. If a biologist induces a state of tonic immobility in such a shark in order to
study it, find the probability that the shark will remain in this state for
between 10 and 13 minutes.
b. When a biologist wishes to estimate the mean time that such sharks stay
immobile by inducing tonic immobility in each of a sample of 12 sharks, find
the probability that mean time of immobility in the 
Sample will be between 10 and 13 minutes.
c. Suppose the mean cost across the country of a 30-day supply of a generic drug
is $46.58, with standard deviation $4.84. Find the probability that the mean of
a sample of 100 prices of 30-day supplies of this drug will be between
$45 and $50.
 d. Suppose the mean length of time between submission of a state tax return
requesting a refund and the issuance of the refund is 47 days, with standard
deviation 66 days. Find the probability that in a sample of 50 returns
requesting a refund, the mean such time will be more than 50 days.
e. Scores on a common final exam in a large enrolment, multiple-section
freshman course are normally distributed with mean 72.7 and standard
deviation13.1.
a. Find the probability that the score XX on a randomly selected exam paper is
between 70 and 80.
b. Find the probability that the mean score X¯¯¯¯X¯ of 38 randomly selected
exam papers is between 70 and 80.

17. Suppose the mean weight of school children’s bookbags is 17.4 pounds, with standard
deviation 2.2 pounds. Find the probability that the mean weight of a sample of 30 bookbags
will exceed 17 pounds.

18. Suppose that in a certain region of the country the mean duration of first marriages that
end in divorce is 7.8 years, standard deviation 1.2 years. Find the probability that in a sample
of 75 divorces, the mean age of the marriages is at most 88 years.

19. Borachio eats at the same fast food restaurant every day. Suppose the time X between the
moment Borachio enters the restaurant and the moment he is served his food is normally
distributed with mean 4.2 minutes and standard deviation 1.3 minutes.
a. Find the probability that when he enters the restaurant today it will be at
least 55 minutes until he is served.
b. Find the probability that average time until he is served in eight randomly
selected visits to the restaurant will be at least 55 minutes.