Formula sheets, the key method steps for every topic and 10 practice problems, with full solutions at the back.
The masses of bags of cement are independent and normal with mean 25 kg and standard deviation 0.5 kg. Find the probability P that the total mass of 16 of them exceeds 398 kg. Round z to two decimals.
The delivery times are normally distributed with mean 32 min and standard deviation 6 min. Find the value x below which 5% of them lie (the 5th percentile).
The battery life of two phone models is compared. Model 1: 100 phones, mean 145 h, known standard deviation 6 h. Model 2: 50 phones, mean 132.5 h, known standard deviation 4 h. Find the upper limit of the 90% confidence interval for μ₁ − μ₂.
The population standard deviation is 23. How large a sample n do you need so that a 99% confidence interval for the mean has a margin of error of at most 0.5?
The mean of a population is claimed to be 500; the population standard deviation is known to be 24. A random sample of 64 observations has a mean of 503.6. Test H₀: μ = 500 against H₁: μ ≠ 500. Find the p-value p.
A sample of 16 measurements has mean 129.8. The population standard deviation is 15. Find the upper limit U of the 95% confidence interval for the mean.
The table gives 6 paired observations of x = temperature in °C and y = ice creams sold. Find the coefficient of determination r² of the least-squares line.
The table gives 5 paired observations of x = advertising spend in k€ and y = sales in k€. Use the least-squares line ŷ = a + b·x. A new observation (8, 49) is made. Find its residual e = y − ŷ.
The contingency table shows observed counts. Compute the chi-square statistic χ² for the test of independence between the row and column variables. Do not use a continuity correction.
The table shows observed counts. Test at α = 0.01 whether the two variables are independent (no continuity correction). Compute the test statistic χ², then compare it with the critical value from the table.
Answer: P = 0.8413
Sums and differences of normal variables: if X and Y are independent and normal, X + Y and X − Y are normal too. Means add or subtract: E(X ± Y) = μX ± μY. Variances always add, also for a difference: Var(X ± Y) = σX² + σY², so σ = √(σX² + σY²). Standard deviations never add directly. The total of n independent items with the same distribution has mean n·μ and standard deviation σ·√n. Then standardise as usual: z = (x − mean)/σ and read Φ(z).
Answer: x = 22.13 min
Normal distribution: convert a value x to a z-score, z = (x − μ)/σ, which counts standard deviations from the mean. A z-table (or Φ(z)) gives the area to the left of z, which is P(X < x). The area to the right is 1 − Φ(z), and the area between two values is the difference of their two areas.
Answer: upper limit = 13.86 h
Interval for a difference: estimate ± critical value × standard error. For two independent means with known σ: SE = √(σ₁²/n₁ + σ₂²/n₂) and z. With equal unknown variances: pooled s_p and t with n₁ + n₂ − 2 degrees of freedom. For paired data, work with the differences: d̄ ± t·s_d/√n.
The interval does not contain 0, so the means differ significantly.
Answer: n = 14042
Confidence interval for a mean: x̄ ± margin of error. With a known population σ the margin is z·σ/√n; with only the sample standard deviation s, use t with n − 1 degrees of freedom: t·s/√n. Critical values: z = 1.645 (90%), 1.96 (95%), 2.576 (99%). To get a margin E or smaller, you need n ≥ (z·σ/E)², rounded up.
A sample size is a whole number, and rounding down would make the margin too large.
Answer: p = 0.2301
Hypothesis test: the test statistic = (estimate − value under H₀)/(standard error under H₀). The p-value is the probability, assuming H₀ is true, of a statistic at least as extreme as the one observed: the area in one tail for a one-sided H₁, twice the tail area for a two-sided H₁. Reject H₀ when p ≤ α.
p > 0.05, so H₀ is not rejected at the 5% level.
Answer: U = 137.2
Testing a mean: the test statistic measures how many standard errors the sample mean lies from the value claimed in H₀: z = (x̄ − μ₀)/(σ/√n) when σ is known, t = (x̄ − μ₀)/(s/√n) when it is estimated from the sample. A confidence interval is x̄ ± (critical value)·(standard error).
Answer: r² = 0.9148
Least-squares regression: with x̄ and ȳ the means, Sxx = Σ(x − x̄)², Syy = Σ(y − ȳ)² and Sxy = Σ(x − x̄)(y − ȳ), the line ŷ = a + b·x has slope b = Sxy/Sxx and intercept a = ȳ − b·x̄, so it always passes through (x̄, ȳ). Pearson's correlation coefficient r = Sxy/√(Sxx·Syy) lies between −1 and 1; r² is the fraction of the variation in y explained by the line.
About 91.48% of the variation in y is explained by the line.
Answer: e = 3.6
Least-squares regression: with x̄ and ȳ the means, Sxx = Σ(x − x̄)², Syy = Σ(y − ȳ)² and Sxy = Σ(x − x̄)(y − ȳ), the line ŷ = a + b·x has slope b = Sxy/Sxx and intercept a = ȳ − b·x̄, so it always passes through (x̄, ȳ). Pearson's correlation coefficient r = Sxy/√(Sxx·Syy) lies between −1 and 1; r² is the fraction of the variation in y explained by the line.
The point lies above the line.
Answer: χ² = 6.176
Chi-square tests: compare observed counts O with the counts E expected under H₀ using χ² = Σ(O − E)²/E. Goodness of fit: E = n·p for each category, df = k − 1 (minus one more for each parameter estimated from the data). Independence in an r × c table: E = row total × column total / grand total, df = (r − 1)(c − 1). Reject H₀ when χ² exceeds the critical value for the chosen α.
df = 2. At α = 0.05 the critical value is 5.991, so H₀ (independence) is rejected.
Answer: χ² = 2.778
Chi-square tests: compare observed counts O with the counts E expected under H₀ using χ² = Σ(O − E)²/E. Goodness of fit: E = n·p for each category, df = k − 1 (minus one more for each parameter estimated from the data). Independence in an r × c table: E = row total × column total / grand total, df = (r − 1)(c − 1). Reject H₀ when χ² exceeds the critical value for the chosen α.
χ² is below the critical value, so H₀ is not rejected: there is no significant evidence of a relationship.
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