CMTH380 Test 2 Review

1. Using the standard normal table, what is the total probability to the right of z = 2.0 and to the left of z
= –2.0?
a. 0.0228
b. 0.0456
c. 0.4772
d. 0.9544

2. Let be a z-score that is unknown but identifiable by position and area. If the symmetrical area
between a negative and a positive is 0.8132, what would be the value of ?
a. z = 2.64
b. z = 1.78
c. z = 1.32
d. z = 0.89
3. Given that Z is a standard normal random variable, what is P(–1.2 Z 1.5)?
a. 0.8181
b. 0.5228
c. 0.4772
d. 0.3849
4. Given that z is a standard normal variable, which of the following is the value for which P(z )
= 0.242?
a. 0.70
b. 0.65
c. –0.65
d. –0.70
5. If z is a standard normal random variable, what is the value of P(–1.25 z –0.75)?
a. 0.6678
b. 0.2266
c. 0.1210
d. 0.1056

6. Given a normal distribution with a mean of 80 and a standard deviation of 20, which z-score would
correspond to an observation of x = 50?
a. z = +3.0
b. z = +2.0
c. z = +1.5
d. z = –1.5
7. If a normal curve appears more peaked, what may be said of the population parameters?
a. The smaller is the value of the standard deviation .
b. The larger is the value of the standard deviation .
c. The smaller is the value of the mean .
d. The larger is the value of the mean .

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 8. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the normal distribution?
a. It is symmetric.
b. It is not bell-shaped.
c. The mean equals the median.
d. The mean equals the mode.
9. Suppose you are given that x is a normally distributed random variable with a mean of and a
standard deviation of 0.15. If P(x < 2.10) = 0.025, what is the value of ?
a. 2.394
b. 2.104
c. 2.096
d. 1.806
10. Given that Z is a standard normal random variable, which of the following is the value of
P(–1.0 Z 1.5)?
a. 0.0919
b. 0.7745
c. 0.8413
d. 0.9332
11. Given that Z is a standard normal variable, and P(Z b) = 0.2580, which of these values is b?
a. –0.65
b. 0.242
c. 0.70
d. 0.758
12.If Z is a standard normal random variable, then which of these values is the value of z for which P(–z Z
z) equals 0.8764?
a. 3.08
b. 1.54
c. 1.16
d. 0.3764

SHORT ANSWER

1.Let z denote a standard normal random variable.

a. Find P(z > 1.48).
b. Find P(-0.44 < z < 2.68).
c. Determine the value of which satisfies P(z > ) = 0.7995.
d. Find P(z < –0.87).
e. Find P(–1.66 < z < –0.48).
f. Find such that P(– <z< ) = 0.901.
g. Find such that P(z < ) = 0.0375.
h. Find such that P(– <z< ) = 0.7698.
ANS: a. 0.0694; b. 0.6663; c. = –0.84; d. 0.1922; e. 0.2671; f. = 1.65; g. = –1.76; h. = 1.2

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2. A chemical manufacturer sells its product in steel drums. The net weight of the chemical in the drums
has a normal distribution with mean 145 kg and standard deviation 2 kg. The manufacturer
guarantees its customers each drum will contain at least 140 kg of the chemical. What percentage of
the drums will satisfy this guarantee?
ANS: P(x 140) = P(z –2.5) = 0.9938 = 99.38%
3. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States.
The mean SAT verbal score of next year’s entering freshmen at the local college is 600. The college
also knows 69.5% of the students scored less than 625. If the scores are normally distributed, what is
the standard deviation of the SAT scores?
ANS:
This is a standardization problem. Let the normal random variable x be the SAT verbal score value.

Since P(x < 625) = 0.695, then P = 0.695. Hence, 25/ = 0.51, which implies that
= 49.02.
4. The scores on an aptitude test are normally distributed with an unknown mean, a variance of 36, and
only 7% of the scores below 26. What is the mean score?
ANS:
This is a standardization problem. Let the normal random variable x be the aptitude test score. Since

P(x < 26) = 0.07, then P = 0.07. Hence, (26 – )/6 = –1.48, which implies that =
34.88.
5. The lifetime of salmon flies is normally distributed, with a mean of 60 days and a standard deviation of
20 days.
a. What percentage of salmon flies live fewer than 12 days?
ANS: P( x < 12) = P( z < –2.4) = 0.0082. Thus, approximately 0.8% of salmon flies live less than 12
days.
b. What percentage of salmon flies live between 80 and 101 days?
ANS: P(80 x 101) = P(1 z 2.05) = 0.1385. Thus, approximately 13.9% of salmon flies live
between 80 and 101 days.
c. Find the value x0 such that 6.3% of salmon flies live less than x0 days.

ANS: P(x ) = 0.063 P( ) = 0.063 ( – 60)/20 = –1.53; all of which imply that
= 29.4 days.
6. If X is a normal random variable with a mean of 45 and a standard deviation of 8, find the following
probabilities:
a. P(X 50)
b. P(X 32)
c. P(37 X 48)
d. P(50 X 60)
e. P(X = 45)
ANS: a. 0.2643; b. 0.0516; c. 0.4893; d.0.2342; e. 0.0

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 Sampling distributions

1. The time necessary to complete an examination has a mean of 45 minutes and a standard deviation
of 4 minutes. The average time necessary for 64 randomly selected students is computed.
a.What is the mean of the sampling distribution of ?
ANS: The mean: 45 minutes.
b. What is the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of ?
ANS: The standard deviation is 0.5 minutes.
c. Can we say that the sampling distribution of is approximately normally distributed? Why?
ANS: Yes, because n = 64 > 30; our rule-of-thumb minimum value for large samples, therefore the
CLT can be applied to conclude that the sampling distribution of is approximately normally
distributed.

2. Suppose a sample of 120 items is drawn from a population of manufactured products and the number
of defective items is recorded. Prior experience has shown that the proportion of defectives is 0.05.
a. Completely describe the sampling distribution of , the proportion of defectives.
ANS: Since np = 6 and n(1 – p) = 114 are both greater than 5, the sampling distribution of is

approximately normal with a mean = 0.05 and a standard deviation = 0.0199.

b. How would the sampling distribution of the sample proportion change if the sample size were
raised to 200?
ANS:The sampling distribution will remain approximately normal with mean of 0.05, but the
standard deviation (or standard error) of would decrease from 0.0199 to 0.0154.

Large Sample:

1. A random sample of 45 salespersons were asked how long, on average, they were able to talk to a
potential customer. Their answers revealed a mean of 8.5 minutes with a variance of 9 minutes.
Construct a 95% confidence interval for , the time it takes an salesperson to talk to a potential
customer.
ANS: 8.5 1.96 (3)/ = 8.5 0.88 LCL = 7.62, and UCL = 9.38
2. An auto mechanic knows that the average time it takes to replace a car radiator is 70 minutes, with a
standard deviation of 12 minutes. This average is based on a random sample of 50. Construct a 90%
confidence interval for , the true time it takes any auto mechanic to replace a car radiator.
ANS: 70 (1.645)(12)/ = (67.21, 72.79)
3. A study was conducted to see how long Dr. Kennedy’s patients had to wait before their scheduled
appointments. A random sample of 33 patients showed the average waiting time was 22 minutes, with
a standard deviation of 16 minutes. Construct a 99% confidence interval for , the true mean waiting
time.
ANS: 22 (2.575)(16)/ = (14.83, 29.17)

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4. A college graduate school administrator is interested in knowing what proportion of applicants would
like to be accepted into a particular chemistry program. Of a random sample of 75 applicants, 12
requested entry into the program. Construct a 95% confidence interval for p, the true proportion of all
applicants who want acceptance into the program.
ANS: = 12/75 = 0.16
= 0.16 (1.96) = 0.16 0.083 = (0.077, 0.243)
5. A statistician knows that the population of light bulb lifetimes is normally distributed and has a
standard deviation of 30 hours. A simple random sample of 36 bulbs yields a mean lifetime of 504
hours. Construct and interpret a 99% confidence interval for the mean lifetime of all such bulbs.

ANS: or . The statistician

can be 99% confident that light bulbs last between 491.125 and 516.875 hours on average.
6. A parent believes the average height for 14-year-old girls differs from that of 14-year-old boys.
Estimate the difference in height between girls and boys, using a 95% confidence interval. The
summary data are listed below. Based on your interval, do you think there is a significant difference
between the true mean height of 14-year-old girls and boys? Explain.
14-year-old girls’ summary data: = 40, = 155 cm, = 6.1 cm
14-year-old boys’ summary data: = 40, = 146 cm, = 9.1 cm

ANS: = (155 – 146) (1.96)(1.732) = (5.61, 12.39)

Since this interval does not contain 0, the sample data support the conclusion that the heights of girls
and boys differ.
7. A study was conducted to compare the mean numbers of police emergency calls per eight-hour shift
in two districts of Toronto. Samples of 100 eight-hour shifts were randomly selected from the police
records for each of the two regions, and the number of emergency calls was recorded for each shift.
The sample statistics are listed below:

Sample Statistic Region 1 Region 2

Sample size 100 100
Sample mean 2.8 3.5
Sample variance 1.64 2.84
Find a 90% confidence interval for the difference in the mean numbers of police emergency calls per
shift between the two districts of the city. Interpret the interval.
ANS: The 90% confidence interval for is approximated by

= (2.8 – 3.5) 1.645 (0.2117) = –0.7 0.3482, or

–1.0482 < < –0.3518.

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One can estimate with 90% confidence that the difference in the mean numbers of police emergency
calls per shift between the two districts of Toronto is between –1.0482 and –0.3518. In repeated
sampling, all intervals constructed in this manner will enclose ( ) 90% of the time. Hence, we
are fairly certain that this particular interval encloses .