#Practice Sheet

Probability and Statistics

Q.1 A neurologist is testing the effect of a drug on response time by injecting 100 rats with a unit
dose of the drug, subjecting each to neurological stimulus and recording its response time. The
neurologist knows that the mean response time for the rats not injected with the drug is 1.2
seconds. The mean of the 100 injected rats’ response times is 1.05 seconds with a sample
standard deviation of 0.5 seconds. Using suitable statistical test, check whether the drug has an
effect on response time?

Q.2 The mean intelligence quotient (I.Q.) of a large number of children of age 14 was 100 and the
standard deviation 16. Assuming that the distribution was normal, what percentage of the
children had I.Q. fewer than 80?

Q.3 Calculate the value of 𝑍0.005 using normal distribution table and compare it with the value of
𝑡0.005 , ∞. Interpret 0.005.

Q.4 The number of visitors to a cycle track and the number of drinks sold by a café at the location
are recorded in the table below.
Days Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
No. of visitors 32 45 39 43 58 84 65
Drinks sold 17 20 23 7 24 49 38
Describe the relationship between the number of visitors and the number of drinks sold.

Q.5 In a certain district, the need for money to buy drugs is stated as the reason for 75% of all thefts.
Find the probability that among the next 5 thefts cases reported in this district, at most 3
resulted from the need for money to buy drugs.

Q.6 Records of 40 used passenger cars and 40 used pickup trucks (none used commercially) were
randomly selected to investigate whether there was any difference in the mean time in years
that they were kept by the original owner before being sold. For cars the mean was 5.3 years
with standard deviation 2.2 years. For pickup trucks the mean was 7.1 years with standard
deviation 3.0 years. Answer the following.
a) Build the hypothesis.
b) Which test is applicable in this case?
c) Write whether this test is paired test or independent sample test?
Q.7 The mean life of 10 electric motors was found to be 1450 hrs with a standard deviation of 423
hrs. A second sample of 17 motors chosen from a different batch showed a mean life of 1280 hrs
with a standard deviation of 398 hrs. Is there a significant difference between the means of the
two samples?
Q.8 Ten competitors in a musical test were ranked by the two judges x and y in the following order:
Ranks by x: 1 6 5 10 3 2 4 9 7 8
Ranks by y: 3 5 8 4 7 10 2 1 6 9
Calculate the rank correlation coefficient. Also test for independence at 5% level of significance
using rank correlation coefficient.
Q.9 If X is the inside air pressure and Y is the outside air pressure of a certain roofing systems with
𝑘
, 27 < 𝑦 < 𝑥 < 33
joint probability density function 𝑓(𝑥, 𝑦) = {𝑥 . Find the value of k.
0 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒

Page 1 of 5
Q.10 Test of the fidelity and the selectivity of 190 radio receivers produced the results that are shown
in the following table:
Fidelity
Selectivity Total
Low Average High
Low 6 12 32 50
Average 33 61 18 112
High 13 15 0 28
Total 52 88 50 190
Test at 5% level of significance for the independence of selectivity and fidelity.

Q.11 In a survey of buying habits, 400 shoppers are chosen at random in supermarket A. Their
average weekly food expenditure is $ 250 with a standard deviation of $ 40. For 500 shoppers
chosen at supermarket B, the average weekly food expenditure is $ 220 with a standard
deviation of $ 45. Test at 1% level of significance whether the average food expenditures of the
two groups are equal.
Q.12 In an experiment on the immunization of goats from anthrax, the following results were
obtained. Derive your inferences on the efficiency of the vaccine. (given α = 0.05)
Died Survived
Inoculated with vaccine 2 10
Not Inoculated with vaccine 6 6
Q.13 The marks obtained in mathematics by 1000 students are normally distributed with mean 78%
and standard deviation 11%. How many students got marks above 90%.

Q.14 The following are the number of typing mistakes made in five successive weeks by four typists
working for a publishing company
Typist I: 13 16 12 14 15
Typist II: 14 16 11 19 15
Typist III: 13 18 16 14 18
Typist IV: 18 10 14 15 12
Carry out a one way ANOVA to test at the 0.05 level of significance whether the differences
among the four sample means is significant.

Q.15 Three different types of I.Q. test were conducted to four students and the following are the
scores which they detained
Test I: 75 73 59 68
Test II: 83 72 56 69
Test III: 86 61 53 70
Carry out a one way ANOVA to test at the 0.01 level of significance whether all the tests are
equivalent.
Q.16 Given Sxx= 132,000; Sxy = 505.40; 𝑥̅ = 200; 𝑦̅ =0.835; find the regression coefficients ‘a’ and
‘b’ and the equation of line.

Q.17 Given n = 150,  = 6.2 and z0.005 = 2.575; find the maximum size of error E.

Q.18 A sales tax officer has reported that the average of sales of the 500 businesses that he has to deal
with during a year is Rs. 36,000 with a standard deviation of Rs. 10,000. Assuming that the
sales in these businesses are normally distributed, find the percentage of businesses as the
sales of which are likely to range between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 40,000.
Q.19 The fraction X of male runners and the fraction Y of female runners who compare in marathon
𝑘𝑥𝑦, 0 < 𝑥 < 1, 0 < 𝑦 < 𝑥
races is described by the joint distribution function 𝑓(𝑥, 𝑦) = { .
0 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
Find the value of k.

Page 2 of 5
Q.20 A sample of heights of 6400 soldiers has a mean of 67.85 inches and a standard deviation of
2.56 inches while another sample of heights of 1600 sailors has a mean of 68.55 inches with
standard deviation of 2.52 inches. Do the data indicate that the sailors are on the average taller
than soldiers?
Q.21 Ten students got the following percentage of ranks in Maths and Physics:
Students 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Ranks in Maths 4 9 1 10 5 3 2 7 6 8
Ranks in Physics 3 9 1 7 4 6 2 8 5 10
Calculate the rank correlation coefficient. Also test for independence at 5% level of significance
using rank correlation coefficient.
Q.22 Given, 𝑆𝑥𝑦 = 13, 𝑆𝑥𝑥 = 10, 𝑆𝑦𝑦 = 26, 𝑥̅ = 3, 𝑦̅ = 5; find regression coefficients 𝑏𝑦 and 𝑏𝑥 . Hence,
𝑥 𝑦
find the correlation coefficient.
Q.23 Comparing 2 kinds of emergency flares, a consumer testing service obtained the following
burning times:
Brand C: 19.4 21.5 15.3 17.4 16.8 16.6 20.3 22.5 21.3 23.4 19.7 21.0
Brand D: 16.5 15.8 24.7 10.2 13.5 15.9 15.7 14.0 12.1 17.4 15.6 15.8
Use the U test at the 0.01 level of significance to check whether it is reasonable to say that the
populations of burning times of the two kinds of flares are identical.
Q.24 To determine whether there really is a relationship between an employee’s performance in the
company’s training programme and his or her ultimate success in the job, the company takes a
sample of 400 cases from its very extensive files and obtains the results shown in the following
table:
Success in Performance in training programme
Total
job Low Average High
Poor 23 60 29 112
Average 28 79 60 167
Very good 9 49 63 121
Total 60 188 152 400
Construct r × c contingency table. Use 2 to test the independence of performance in the
company’s training programme and his or her ultimate success in the job at 1% level of
significance.
Q.25 The regression equations calculated from a given set of observations are:
𝑥 = −0.4𝑦 + 6.4; 𝑦 = −0.6𝑥 + 4.6. Calculate correlation coefficient r.

Q.26 In a certain district, the need for money to buy drugs is stated as the reason for 75% of all thefts.
Find the probability that among the next 5 thefts cases reported in this district, at most 3
resulted from the need for money to buy drugs.
Q.27 Of the three men, the chances that a politician, a businessman, or an academician will be
appointed as a vice-chancellor (VC) of a public University are 0.5, 0.3, and 0.2, respectively and
the probability that they will promote the research, if becomes VC are 0.3, 0.7 and 0.8,
respectively. If research is promoted, what is the probability that VC is an academician?
Q.28 In a laboratory experiment, 18 determinations of the coefficient of friction between leather and
metal yielded the following results: 0.59, 0.56, 0.49, 0.55, 0.65, 0.55, 0.51, 0.60, 0.56, 0.47,
0.58, 0.61, 0.54, 0.68, 0.56, 0.50, 0.57 and 0.53. Use the sign test at the 0.05 level of significance
to test the null hypothesis 𝜇̃ = 0.55 against the alternative hypothesis 𝜇̃ ≠ 0.55.

Q.29 Four coins were tossed 160 times and the following results were obtained:
Number of Heads: 01 2 3 4
Observed Frequency: 17 52 54 31 6
Under the assumption that the coins are balanced, find (i) the expected frequencies of getting
0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 heads and (ii) test the goodness of fit at 0.05 level of significance.

Page 3 of 5
Q.30 The following table gives indices of industrial production and number of registered unemployed
people (in lakh). Calculate the value of the correlation coefficient
Year 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Index of production 100 102 104 107 105 112 103 99
Number unemployed 15 12 13 11 12 12 19 26
Q.31 Two random samples of sizes 60 and 120 of farms gave an average yield of 2000 kg and 2050
kg respectively. The variance of both the wheat farms may be taken as 6 kg. Examine at, 0.05
level of significance whether the two samples differ significantly in yield, using (i) equality of
means (ii) equality of variances?
Q.32 The income distribution of the population of a certain village is claimed to have a mean of Rs.
6,000 and a variance of Rs. 32,000. Could a sample of 64 persons with a mean income of Rs.
5,950 justify this claim? Test at 1% level of significance.
Q.33 Let x be distributed in the Poisson form. If P(X = 1) = P(X = 2), what is P(X = 0)?

Q.34 A machine produced 20 defective articles in a batch of 400. After overhauling it produced 10
defectives in a batch of 300. Test the claim on equality of proportions whether the machine is
improved?
Q.35 Given Σx = 644, Σy = 567, Σx2 = 822, Σx2 = 616, and Σxy = 687. Find the equation of least squares
line that approximates the regression of x on y and y on x. Also find the correlation coefficient.

Q.36 4 coins are tossed 160 times and the following results were obtained.
Number of heads 0 1 2 3 4
Observed frequencies 17 52 54 31 6
Under the assumption that coins are balanced, find the expected frequencies of getting 0, 1, 2,
3 or 4 heads and test the goodness of fit at 5% level of significance.
Q.37 The mean diameter of a random sample of 200 ball bearings made by a certain machine during
one week is 0.824 inches and standard deviation is 0.042 inches. Find 95% confidence interval
for the mean diameter of all the ball bearings.
Q.38 The mean muscular endurance score of a random sample of 60 subjects was found to be 145
with a standard deviation of 40. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the true mean.

Q.39 Samples of two types of electric bulbs were tested for length of life and the following data were
obtained.
Type I Type II
Sample size 8 7
Sample means 1,234 hours 1,036 hours
Sample standard deviations 36 hours 40 hours
Is the difference in the means significant to warrant that Type I is superior to Type II regarding
the length of life? (Given: α = 0.05)
Q.40 The table below shows the number of absences, x, in a Calculus course and the final
exam grade, y, for 7 students. Find the correlation coefficient and interpret your result.
Find the regression line of y on x.
x 1 0 2 6 4 3 3
y 85 80 70 55 90 90 95

Page 4 of 5
Q.41 A drug is claimed to be effective in curing cold. In an experiment on 164 persons with cold, half
of them were given drug, and half were given sugar pills. The treatments are recorded as follows.
(Given: α = 0.05)
Effect
Treatment
Helped Harmed No effect
Drug 52 10 20
Sugar pills 44 12 26
2
Find the value of 𝜒 . Test the hypothesis that there is no dependency of drug or sugar pills in
curing cold.
Q.42 A random sample of 100 teachers in a large metropolitan area revealed a mean weekly salary of
Rs. 2000 with a standard deviation of Rs. 43. With what percentage of chances can we assert
that the average weekly salary of all teachers in the metropolitan area is between Rs. 1985 to Rs.
2015?
Q.42 In a certain district, the need for money to buy drugs is stated as the reason for 75% of all thefts.
Find the probability that among the next 5 thefts cases reported in this district,
i) Exactly 2 resulted from the need for money to buy drugs.
ii) At most 3 resulted from the need for money to buy drugs.

Q.43 Consider an electric fixture (such as Christmas tree lights) containing five electric light bulbs
which are connected so that none will operate if any one of them is defective. If the probability
of a light fixture to be defective is 0.1, using binomial distribution, find the probability that all
the bulbs in the electric fixture will operate.
Q.44 State Baye’s theorem. Three machines A, B, and C produce 40%, 45% and 15%, respectively, of
the total number of ball bearings produced by a certain factory. The percentages of defective
output of these machines are 3%, 6% and 9%. If a ball bearing is selected at random, find the
probability that the item is defective. Use Baye’s theorem.
Q.45 A machine part was designed to withstand an average pressure of 120 units. A random sample
of size 100 from a large batch was tested and it was found that the average pressure that these
parts can withstand is 105 units with a standard deviation of 20 units. Test at 5% level of
significance whether the batch meet the specification.
Q.46 A sample of size 9 with mean 15 and standard deviation 4 is drawn from a normal population.
Do the data indicate that the sample is drawn from a normal population having the variance 18?
Use 0.10 significance level.
Q.47 The following data is taken from an experiment:
x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
f 103 143 98 42 8 4 2 0 0
Using 𝜒 2 test for goodness of fit, test whether the experiment follow Poisson’s distribution.
[𝑒 −1.3225 = 0.2665, observations are to be rounded in integer terms]
Q.48 Independent samples of sizes 30 and 55 from two normal populations having a common
variance 17.6 were found to have means 23.0 and 21.9, respectively. Test at 1% significance level
whether the populations also have the same mean.

Page 5 of 5