PSG COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, COIMBATORE-641 004.
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS
PROBLEM SHEET – CO4
TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS
Large samples single mean:
1. Suppose we want to establish that the thermal conductivity of a certain kind of cement brick
differs from 0.340, the value claimed. Test this claim, on the basis of n = 35 determinations with
mean of 0.343 and 𝜎 = 0.010, at the 0.05 level of significance. Construct a 95% confidence
interval of the thermal conductivity of a cement brick.
2. A trucking firm is suspicious of the claim that the average lifetime of certain tires is at least
28,000 miles. To check the claim, the firm puts 40 of these tires on its trucks and gets a mean
lifetime of 27,463 miles with a standard deviation of 1,348 miles. What can it conclude at 0.01
level of significance?
3. In 64 randomly selected hours of production, the mean and the standard deviation of the number
of acceptable pieces produced by an automatic stamping machine are𝑥̅ = 1,038 𝑠 = 146. At the
0.05 level of significance, does this enable us to reject the null hypothesis μ = 1,000 against the
alternative hypothesis μ >1,000?
Large samples difference of means:
4. To test the claim that the resistance of electric wire can be reduced by more than 0.050 ohm by
alloying, 32 values obtained for standard wire yielded 𝑥̅ = 0.136 ohm and 𝑠1 = 0.004 ohm, and
32 values obtained for alloyed wire yielded 𝑦̅ = 0.083 ohm and 𝑠1 = 0.005 ohm. At the 0.05
level of significance, does this support the claim?
5. A company claims that its light bulbs are superior to those of its main competitor. If a study
showed that a sample of 𝑛1 = 40 of its bulbs has a mean lifetime of 1647 hours of continuous
use with a standard deviation of 27 hours, while a sample of 𝑛1 = 40 bulbs made by its main
competitor had a mean lifetime of 1638 hours of continuous use with a standard deviation of 31
hours, does this substantiate the claim at the 0.05 level of significance?
Large samples single proportion:
6. Transceivers provide wireless communication among electronic components of consumer
products. Responding to a need for a fast, low-cost test of Bluetooth-capable transceivers,
engineers developed a product test at the wafer level. In one set of trials with 60 devices selected
from different wafer lots, 48 devices passed. Test the null hypothesis p = 0.70 against the
alternative hypothesis p > 0.70 at the 0.95 level of significance.
7. A manufacturer of submersible pumps claims that at most 30% of the pumps require repairs
within the first 5 years of operation. If a random sample of 120 of these pumps includes 47 which
required repairs within the first 5 years, test the null hypothesis p = 0.30 against the alternative
hypothesis p > 0.30 at the 0.05 level of significance.
Large samples difference of proportions:
8. A study shows that 16 of 200 tractors produced on one assembly line required extensive
adjustments before they could be shipped, while the same was true for 14 of 400 tractors
produced on another assembly line. At the 0.01 level of significance, does this support the claim
that the second production line does superior work?
9. In a true-false test, a test item is considered to be good if it discriminates between well-prepared
students and poorly prepared students. If 205 of 250 well-prepared students and 137 of 250
poorly prepared students answer a certain item correctly, test at the 0.01 level of significance
whether for the given item the proportion of correct answers can be expected to be at least 15%
higher among well prepared students than among poorly prepared students.
Small samples single mean:
10. The specifications for a certain kind of ribbon call for a mean breaking string of 180 pounds. If
five pieces of the ribbon (randomly selected from different rolls) have a mean breaking strength
of 169.5 pounds with the standard deviation of 5.7 pounds, test the null hypothesis
𝜇 = 180 pounds against the alternative 𝜇 < 180 pounds at the 0.01 level of significance. Assume
that the population distribution is normal.
11. A random sample of 6 steel beams has a mean compressive strength of 58,392 psi (pounds per
square inch) with a standard deviation of 648 psi. Use this information and the level of
significance α = 0.05 to test whether the true average compressive strength of the steel from
which this sample came is 58,000 psi. Assume normality.
12. A manufacturer claims that the average tar content of a certain kind of cigarette is μ = 14.0. In an
attempt to show that it differs from this value, five measurements are made of the tar content (mg
per cigarette): 14.5, 14.2, 14.4, 14.3, 14.6. Show that the difference between the mean of this
sample, 𝑥̅ = 14.4, and the average tar claimed by the manufacturer, μ =14.0, is significant at
α = 0.05. Assume normality.
Small samples difference of means:
13. The following random samples are measurements of the heat-producing capacity (in millions of
calories per ton) of specimens of coal from two mines:
Mine 1: 8,260 8,130 8,350 8,070 8,340
Mine 2: 7,950 7,890 7,900 8,140 7,920 7,840
Use the 0.01 level of significance to test whether the difference between the means of these two
samples is significant.
14. Measuring specimens of nylon yarn taken from two spinning machines, it was found that 8
specimens from the first machine had a mean denier of 9.67 with a standard deviation of 1.81,
while 10 specimens from the second machine had a mean denier of 7.43 with a standard
deviation of 1.48. Assuming that the populations sampled are normal and have the same variance,
test the null hypothesis 𝜇1 − 𝜇2 = 1.5 against the alternative hypothesis 𝜇1 − 𝜇2 > 1.5 at the
0.05 level of significance.
15. The following are the number of sales which a sample of 9 sales people of industrial chemicals in
California and a sample of 6 sales people of industrial chemicals in Oregon made over a certain
fixed period of time:
California: 59 68 44 71 63 46 69 54 48
Oregon : 50 36 62 52 70 41
Assuming that the populations sampled can be approximated closely with normal distributions
having the same variance, test the null hypothesis 𝜇1 − 𝜇2 = 0 , against the alternative
hypothesis 𝜇1 − 𝜇2 ≠ 0 at the 0.01 level of significance.
Small sample - Paired t – test:
16. The following are the average weekly losses of worker-hours due to accidents in 10 industrial
plants before and after a certain safety program was put into operation:
Before: 45 73 46 124 33 57 83 34 26 17
After : 36 60 44 119 35 51 77 29 24 11
Use the 0.05 level of significance to test whether the safety program is effective. Find the 90%
confidence interval for the mean improvement in lost worker-hours.
17. A taxi company manager is trying to decide whether the use of radial tires instead of regular
belted tires improves fuel economy. Twelve cars were equipped with radial tires and driven over
a prescribed test course. Without changing drivers, the same cars were then equipped with
regular belted tires and driven once again over the test course. The gasoline consumption, in
kilometers per liter, was recorded as follows:
Kilometers per Liter
Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Radial Tires 4.2 4.7 6.6 7.0 6.7 4.5 5.7 6.0 7.4 4.9 6.1 5.2
Belted Tires 4.1 4.9 6.2 6.9 6.8 4.4 5.7 5.8 6.9 4.7 6.0 4.9
Can we conclude that cars equipped with radial tires give better fuel economy than those
equipped with belted tires at 0.05 level of significance? Assume the populations to be normally
distributed.
Chi-square test – Goodness of fit:
18. The following is the distribution of the hourly number of trucks arriving at a company’s
warehouse. Find the mean of this distribution, and using it (rounded to one decimal as the
parameter λ, fit a Poisson distribution. Test for goodness of fit at the 0.05 level of significance.
Trucks arriving per hour 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Frequency 52 151 130 102 45 12 5 1 2
19. The following is the distribution of the daily number of power failures reported in a western city
on 300 days. Test at the 0.05 level of significance whether the daily number of power failures in
this city is a random variable having the Poisson distribution with λ = 3.2.
Number of power failures 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Number of days 9 43 64 62 42 36 22 14 6 2
