Problems in Sampling Distributions and Estimation

1. A machine produces 500 similar components with a mean weight of 4.03 N and a
standard deviation of 0.20 N. A random sample of 60 components is selected from this
group. What will be the probability of sample mean weight taking a value of (a) between
4.0 and 4.1 N; (b) more than 4.05 N? Assume that sampling is without replacement and
the weights of the components are normally distributed.

2. The mean length of life of a certain cutting tool is 41.5 hours with standard deviation
of 2.5 hours. What is the probability that a simple random sample of size 50 drawn from
this population will have a mean between 40.5 hours and 42 hours?

3. Electric light tubes of manufacturer A has a mean lifetime of 1,400 hours with a
standard deviation of 100 hours. Corresponding figures for brand B tubes are 1200 hours
and 100 hours. If a random sample of 125 tubes of each brand is tested, what is the
probability that the brand A tubes will have a mean lifetime that is at least (i) 160 hours
more than the brand B tubes; and (ii) 250 hours more than the brand B tubes?

4. A manufacturer of automobile batteries claims that the average duration of useful life
for its grade A battery is 60 months. However, the guarantee on this brand is only 36
months. Assume that the standard deviation of the life-duration is known to be 10 months
and that the frequency distribution of the life-duration is known to be mound—shaped.
a) Approximately what percentage of the manufacturer’s grade A batteries will last
more than 50 months, assuming the manufacturer’s claim about the mean life-
duration is true?
b) Approximately what percentage of the manufacturer’s batteries will last less than 40
months, assuming that the manufacturer’s claim about the mean life-duration is
true?
c) Suppose that your grade A battery lasts 37 months. What would you infer about the
manufacturer’s claim that the mean life-duration is 60 months?
5. Stress on the job is a major concern of a large number of people who go into
managerial positions. Eighty per cent of all managers of companies suffer from stress.
Let p be the proportion in a sample of 100 managers of companies who suffer from
stress.
a) What is the probability that the sample proportion is lower than the population
proportion by 0.1 or more?
b) What is the probability that the sample proportion is within 0.08 of the
population proportion?
c) What is the probability that the sample proportion is greater than the population
proportion by 0.11 or more?
d) What is the probability that the sample proportion is not within 0.08 of the
population proportion?

6. Seventy per cent of adults favour‾ some kind of government control on the prices of
medicines. Assume that this percentage is true for the current population of all adults in
a certain territory. Let p be the proportion of adults in a random sample of 400, who
favour government control on the prices of medicines. Calculate the mean and the
standard deviation of p and describe its sampling distribution.

7. Two firms A and B manufacture similar components with a mean breaking strength
of 3,000 N and 2500 N and standard deviations of 200N and l00N, respectively. If
random samples of 100 components of Firm A and 50 components of Firm B are tested,
what is the probability that the components from firm A will have a mean breaking
strength which is at least (a) 450 N; (b) 575
N more than the components of Firm B?

8. A random sample of n = 250 has given a mean (x bar ) = 25 and standard deviation

s = 4. Construct the 95 per cent confidence limits of the mean.

9. A random sample of 200 consumer accounts at a shop is selected for the purpose of
estimating the mean number of transactions per year for each customer. The sample
mean is 43. Determine 98 per cent confidence interval for the mean number of
 transactions of all consumer accounts with the shop. The population standard deviation
is 2.5.

10. The mean weight of a random sample of size 100 from a students’ population is
65.8 kg, and the standard deviation is 4 kg. Set up 95 per cent confidence limits of the
mean weight of the students’ population.

11. In a sample of 81 items taken from a large consignment, some were found to be
defective. If the standard error of the proportion of defective items in the sample is 1/18,
find 95 per cent confidence limits of the percentage of defective items in the
consignment.

11(a).
Data below show the thickness of coating of a plastic paint taken for nine samples.
20.5 21.2 18.6 20.4 19.8 17.8 23.2 22.4 20.6
Set up a 90 per cent confidence limits for the mean of the population.

12.
For the following sample sizes and confidence levels, find the appropriate t values
for constructing confidence intervals:

Sample Size
Confidence Interval (%)
(n)

(a
20 90
)

(b) 8 95

(c) 30 98

(d) 25 99

(e
10 95
)

(f) 4 90
13.
In 60 tosses of a coin, 35 heads were obtained. Find 90 per cent confidence limits for the
proportion of heads that would be obtained in an unlimited number of tosses of the coin.

14. Construct a 90 per cent confidence interval for the market share of a brand if the
sample market share (number of shops considered 25) has been found out to be 30 per
cent.
15. Find a 95 per cent confidence interval for a population mean µ for the following:
(a) n = 36, x─ = 13.1, s2= 1.42
(b) n = 64, x─ = 2.73, s2= 0.1047
(c) n=41, x─ =28.6,s2= 1.09

16.
A random sample of 400 television tubes was tested and 40 tubes were found to be
defective. With confidence coefficient equal to 0.9, estimate the interval within which the
true fraction defective lies.

17.
Data below refer to the dividend yield from samples of corporations in electronic
industry and textile industry. There is reason to believe that the population dividends are
normally distributed with equal variances. Find a 95 per cent confidence interval for the
population difference in dividends and assess whether the electronic industry pays higher
than the textile industry.

Electronics Textiles

Sample size
10 12

Mean dividend (Rs) 24.6 17.5

Standard deviation (Rs) 5.65 3.95

18
A survey is conducted among random samples of employees in a large organisation as to
whether the staff should be rotated between the two shifts or fixed by each shift. Out of
340 workmen in the first shift 187 preferred rotation while in an independent sample of
291 in the second shift, 192 preferred rotation. Find a 95 per cent confidence interval
within which the true difference in the population proportions may be expected to lie.
Can it be inferred that the preference for rotation of shift is higher for the second shift
staff?
19
To estimate the proportion of unemployed workers in a certain city, a random sample of
400 persons from the working class was taken. Of these, 25 were unemployed.
a) Estimate the true proportion of unemployed workers and place bounds on the
error of estimation.
b) How many persons must be sampled to reduce the bound on the error to 0.02?

20. A section manager wishes to estimate the mean number of seconds required by a
worker to do a particular task. He observed the worker on 144 randomly selected
occasions. The average number of seconds required in the 144 observations was 100
seconds and the standard deviation was 10 seconds.
What size of sample (i.e. how many observations) would be necessary to estimate the true
mean within an error of 0.5 second with a 95 per cent confidence coefficient? (Use the
standard deviation of the sample as the best available estimate of the standard deviation
of the population).

21.
As a business manager of a large company, you wish to check the inventory records
against the physical inventories by a sample survey. You want to be almost sure that the
maximum sampling error should not be more than 5 per cent above or below the true
proportion of the inaccurate records. The proportion of the inappropriate records is
estimated at 35 per cent from past experience. Determine the sample size.