Application Problems

1) Michael is 190 cm tall. In his high school, heights are normally distributed with a mean of 165 cm and a standard deviation of
20 cm. Is it more likely that his best friend will taller or shorter than he is?
2) Testing has shown that new CD players have a mean lifetime of 6.2 years. Lifetimes for these CD players are normally
distributed and have a standard deviation of 1.08 years. If the company offers a 5 year warranty on parts and labour, what
percent of CD players will fail before the end of the warranty period?
3) A class of 135 students took a final examination in mathematics. The mean score on the examination was 68% with a standard
deviation of 8.5%. Determine the percentile rank of each of the following people a) Joey who scored 78%
b) Shaheed who got 55% c) Michelle who was very happy with her mark of 89%.
4) There have been some outstanding hitters in baseball. In 1911, Ty Cobbs batting average was 0.420. In 1941, Ted Williams
batted 0.406. George Bretts 0.390 average in 1980 was one of the highest since Ted Williams. Batting averages have
historically been approximately normally distributed, with means and standard deviations as shown below.
Decade

Mean

Standard Deviation

1910s

0.266

0.0371

1040s

0.267

0.0326

1970s-1980s

0.261

0.0317

Compute z-scores for each of these three outstanding hitters. Can you rank the three hitters? Explain your answer.
5) To run without causing damage, diameters of engine crankshafts for a certain car model must fall between 223.92 mm and
224.08 mm. Crankshaft diameters are normally distributed, with a mean of 224mm and a standard deviation of 0.03mm. What
percent of these crankshafts are likely to cause damage?
6) The daily discharge of lead from a mines tailings is normally distributed, with a mean level of 27mg/L an a standard deviation
of 14 mg/L. On what proportion of days will the daily discharge exceed 50 mg/L?
7) The number of shots on goal in an amateur hockey leagues games is normally distributed, with a mean of 56.3 and a standard
deviation of 8.1 shots.
a) In what percent of the games will there be fewer than 40 shots on goal?
b) In what percent of the games will there be between 50 and 60 shots?
c) What is the percentage that a game will have more than 66 shots?
8) The daily sales by Hanks Hot Dogs has a mean of 572,5 hot dogs and a standard deviation of 26.1 hot dogs.
a) What percent of the time will the daily sales be greater than 564 hot dogs?
b) What percent of the time will the daily sales be greater than 600 hot dogs?
9) The average heights of teenage girls are normally distributed, with a mean of 156 cm and a standard deviation of 7 cm.
a) What percentage of teenage girls have a height greater than 170 cm?
b) What range of heights would occur about 90% of the time?
10) The results of a university examination had a mean of 55 and a standard deviation of 13. The professor wishes to bell the
marks by converting all the marks so that the mean is now 70 with a standard deviation of 10.
a) What process or formula would you perform to do this?
b) What would happen to a mark of 80 after the conversion?
c) What would happen to a mark of 40 after the conversion?
11) The heights of 16 month old oak seedlings are normally distributed with a mean of 31.5 cm and a standard deviation of 10 cm.
What is the height above which 75% of the seedlings have grown?
12) The coach of a track team can send only the top 5% of her runners to a regional track meet. For the members of her team,
times for a 1-km run are normally distributed with a mean of 5.6 min and a standard
13) The tallest 7% of basketball players in a league were 83 inches tall. The tallest 30% of players in the same league were 77
inches tall. Find the mean and standard deviation of the heights of players in this league. Heights are normally distributed.
14) In a machine shop, hundreds of identical car pistons are made within a certain radius. The smallest 2% and largest 3% of the
pistons get discarded. Any piston with diameter less than 3.2418 inches or greater than 3.2575 inches got discarded. Find the
mean and standard deviation of piston diameters. The diameters are normally distributed.
15) In a chicken coop, the heaviest 15% of chickens weighed 11.7 pounds or more. The lightest 20% of the chickens weighed 5.4
pounds or less. Find the mean and standard deviations of the weights of the chickens. Weights are normally distributed.