Normal distribution

An orange juice producer buys all his oranges from a large

orange grove. The amount of juice squeezed from each orange
is approximately normally distributed with a mean of 135 mL
and a standard deviation of 12 mL.
Questions:
a) What is the probability that a randomly selected orange will
contain between 135 mL and 140 mL of juice?
b) What is the probability that a randomly selected orange will
contain between 140 mL and 155 mL of juice?
c) 77% of the oranges will contain at least how many
millilitres of juice?
d) 80% of the oranges are between which two values of
juice (in millilitres) symmetrically distributed around the
population mean?
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The time customers are on hold when ringing the IT help line
for a certain ISP provider is normally distributed with a mean of
20 minutes and a standard deviation of 10 minutes.
Questions:
a) What proportion of customers are on hold for more than
40 minutes?
b) What is the probability that a customer is on hold for less
than 30 minutes?
c) What percentage of calls are answered within 10 minutes?

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From the Household Expenditure Statistics: Year Ended
30 June 2016 (Statistics New Zealand, <www.stats.govt.nz>),
the average weekly household expenditure in New Zealand
was $1,300.
Assuming that weekly household expenditure is
approximately normal with a standard deviation of $350:
Questions:
a) Find the probability that a household’s weekly expenditure is
i) less than $500
ii) more than $1,750
b) What proportion of household expenditures are between
$1,250 and $1,500?
c) 99% of households have weekly expenditures of less than
which amount?
d) 95% of households have weekly expenditures of more than
which amount?
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The lifespan of a certain car battery is normally distributed with
a mean of 5 years and a standard deviation of 9 months.
Questions:
a. What is the probability that a battery lasts more than 7 years?
b. What proportion of batteries fail within the warranty period
of 3 years?
c. What warranty period, in months, should be set if only 1%
of batteries fail within the warranty period?
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Sampling:
CHECKING YOUR UNDERSTANDING:
1- Why is the sample mean an unbiased estimator of the
population mean?
2- Why does the standard error of the mean decrease as the
sample size n increases?
3- Why does the sampling distribution of the mean follow a
normal distribution for a large enough sample size even
though
the population may not be normally distributed?
4- What is the difference between a probability distribution
and a
sampling distribution?
5- Under what circumstances does the sampling distribution
of
the proportion approximately follow the normal distribution?
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Assume that, for the first quarter (3 months) of 2017, the weekly
rental
costs of three-bedroom dwellings in a coastal town in Western
Australia are normally distributed with a mean of $260 and a
standard deviation of $30. If you select a random sample of 10
dwellings from this population, what is the probability that
Questions:
the sample will have a mean rental cost:
a. less than $270?
b. between $265 and $275?
c. greater than $282?
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The fill amount of milk in plastic containers is normally
distributed with a mean of 2.0 litres and a standard deviation
of 0.05 litres.
Questions:
If you select a random sample of 25 containers:
a. What is the probability that the sample mean will be:
i. between 1.99 and 2.0 litres?
ii. below 1.98 litres?
iii. above 2.01 litres?
b. The probability is 99% that the sample mean will contain at
least how much milk?
c. The probability is 99% that the sample mean will contain an
amount that is between which two values (symmetrically distributed
around the mean)?
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Confident Interval

A trade union of medical workers conducted a survey through

its website about preferred working hours. Hospital workers
visiting the website were given the opportunity to fill out an
on-screen survey form. A total of 665 workers responded to a
question that asked whether they would prefer a five-day
working week with eight-hour shifts, or seven 12-hour shifts
per fortnight. Twelve-hour shifts were the preference for 412 of
the respondents.
Questions:
a. Define the population from which this sample was drawn.
b. Is this a random sample from this population?
c. Is this a statistically valid study?
d. Describe how you would design a statistically valid study to
investigate the proportion of hospital workers who would
prefer 12-hour shifts rather than a five-day working week.
Use the information above to determine the sample size
needed to estimate this population proportion to within
±0.02 with 95% confidence.
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A researcher for a state government agriculture department
wants to study various characteristics of medium-sized farms
in the state. A random sample of 70 farms of between 100 and
600 hectares reveals the following:
• average area X_bar = 350 hectares, standard deviation
S = 70 hectares
• 21 farms are engaged primarily in beef cattle production
Questions:
a. Construct a 99% confidence interval estimate of the
population mean area of medium-sized farms.
b. Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate of the
population proportion of medium-sized farms which are
primarily beef cattle producers.
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he personnel manager of a large corporation wishes to study
absenteeism among clerical workers at the corporation’s
central office during the year. A random sample of 25 clerical
workers reveals the following:
• absenteeism: X_bar = 9.7 days, S = 4.0 days
• 12 clerical workers were absent for more than 10 days
Questions:
a. Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate of the mean
number of absences for clerical workers last year.
b. Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate of the
population proportion of clerical workers absent for more
than 10 days last year.
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he market research manager for Dalton’s department store
wants to study women’s spending on cosmetics. A survey is
designed to estimate the proportion of women who purchase
their cosmetics primarily from Dalton’s department store, and
the mean yearly amount that women spend on cosmetics. A
previous survey found that the standard deviation of the amount
women spend on cosmetics in a year is approximately $64.70.
Questions:
a. What sample size is needed to have 99% confidence of
estimating the population mean to within ±$5?
b. What sample size is needed to have 90% confidence of
estimating the population proportion to within ±0.045?
c. Based on the results in (a) and (b), how many of the store’s
female customers should be sampled? Explain.
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survey of Internet shopping for goods looked at how much
shoppers spent on online purchases of clothing, footwear and
accessories in the past year. The results from a sample of 270
customers are as follows:
• amount spent: X_bar= $528.90 S = $113.90
• 108 customers stated that they made the majority of
purchases at overseas sites
Questions:
a. Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate of the
population mean amount spent on Internet purchases of
clothing, footwear and accessories in the past year.
b. Construct a 90% confidence interval estimate of the
population proportion of customers who have made the
majority of purchases on overseas sites.
Assume that you wish to run a similar survey for the coming year.
c. What sample size is needed to have 95% confidence of
estimating the population mean amount spent on online
purchases of clothing, footwear and accessories to within
±$1.20 if the standard deviation is assumed to be $10?
d. What sample size is needed to have 90% confidence of
estimating the population proportion that will make the
majority of purchases on overseas sites to within ±0.04?
e. Based on your answers to (c) and (d), how large a sample
should be taken?
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The owner of a restaurant that serves continental food wants
to study the characteristics of his customers. He decides to
focus on two variables: the amount of money spent per diner
on food and whether diners order dessert. The results from a
sample of 60 diners are as follows:
• amount spent: X_bar= $47.20, S = $8.60
• number of diners who purchased dessert: 18
Questions:
a. Construct a 95% confidence interval estimate of the
population mean amount spent per diner on food.
b. Construct a 90% confidence interval estimate of the
population proportion of diners who purchase dessert.
The owner of a competing restaurant wants to conduct a
similar survey in her restaurant. This owner does not have
access to the information generated by the owner of the first
restaurant.
c. What sample size is needed to have 95% confidence of
estimating the population mean amount spent by each diner
on food in her restaurant to within ±$1.50, assuming the
standard deviation is $9?
d. What sample size is needed to have 90% confidence of
estimating the population proportion of diners who
purchase dessert to within ±0.04?
e. Based on your answers to (c) and (d), how large a sample
should the owner take?
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A large computer store is conducting an end-of-month inventory of
the tablet computers in stock. An auditor for the store wants to
estimate the mean value of the tablets in stock at that time. He
wants to have 99% confidence that his estimate of the mean value
is correct to within ±$23. On the basis of past experience, he
estimates that the standard deviation of the value of a tablet is $45.
Questions:
a. What sample size should he select?
b. Using the sample size selected in (a), an audit is conducted
with the following results:
X_bar = $575 S = $72.20
Construct a 99% confidence interval estimate of the total value
of the tablets in stock at the end of the month if there were
258 tablets listed in the inventory.