MG 602: Statistics and Research Methods

Apply your knowledge Hypothesis Testing

1. A manufacturer claims that its cars achieve an average of at least 35 miles per gallon in highway driving.
A consumer interest group tests this claim by driving a random selection of the cars in highway
conditions and measuring their fuel efficiency. If μ denotes the true average miles per gallon achieved
by the cars, then the consumer interest group is interested in testing this claim. A sample of n =20 cars
driven under varying highway conditions achieved fuel efficiencies Car Fuel Efficiency with a sample
mean of ¯x=34.271 miles per gallon and a sample standard deviation of s=2.915 miles per gallon
provide sufficient evidence for the consumer interest group to conclude that the average miles per gallon
achieved in highway driving is any less than 35

2. The machine that produces metal cylinders is set to make cylinders with a diameter of 50 mm. Is it
calibrated correctly? Regardless of the machine setting there is always some variation in the cylinders
produced, so it makes sense to conclude that the machine is calibrated correctly if the mean cylinder
diameter μ is equal to the set amount. To establish the machine calibration the data set of metal cylinder
diameters has n = 60, ¯x= 49.99856, and s= is .1334, is this sufficient evidence that the machine
producing the metal cylinders is calibrated incorrectly?

3. A research engineer for a tyre manufacturer is investigating tyre life for a new rubber compound and
has built 16 tyres and tested them to end-of-life in a road test. The sample mean and standard deviation
are 60,139.7 and 3645.94 kilometers. Find a 95% confidence interval on mean tyre life. The engineer
would like to demonstrate that the mean life of this new tyre is in excess of 60,000 kilometers.
Formulate and test appropriate hypotheses, and draw conclusions using α of 0.05. Suppose that if the
mean life is as long as 61,000 kilometers, the engineer would like to detect this difference with
probability at least 0.90. Was the sample size n = 16 used in part (a) adequate? Use the sample standard
deviation s as an estimate of sigma in reaching your decision.

4. The mean water temperature downstream from a power plant cooling tower discharge pipe should be
no more than 100oF. Past experience has indicated that the standard deviation of temperature is 2oF.
The water temperature is measured on nine randomly chosen days and the average temperature is found
to be 101oF.
a) Is there evidence that the water temperature is acceptable at α=0.05
b) What is the p-value for this test?
5. Aircrew escape systems are powered by a solid propellant. The burning rate of this propellant is an
important product characteristic. Specifications require that the mean burning rate must be 50
centimeters per second. We know that the standard deviation of burning rate is 2 centimeters per second.
The experimenter decides to specify a type I error probability or significance level of 0.05 and selects
a random sample of 25 and obtains a sample average burning rate of 51.3 centimeters per second. What
conclusions should be drawn?

6. A tyre manufacturer produces tyres that have a mean life of at least 25,000 miles when the production
process is working properly. Based on past experience, the standard deviation of the tyres is 3,500
miles. The operations manager stops the production process if there is evidence that the mean tyre life
is below 25,000 miles. If you select a random sample of 100 tyres (to be subjected to destructive testing)
and you are willing to have an a = 0.05 risk of committing a Type I error, compute the power of the test
and the probability of a Type II error if the population mean life is actually
a. 24,000 miles.
b. 24,900 miles.

7. Periodic assessment of stress in paved highways is important to maintaining safe roads. The department
of Transportation recently collected data on the number of cracks (called crack intensity) in an
undivided two-lane highway using van-mounted state of the art video technology. The mean number
of cracks found in a sample of eight 50-meter sections of the highway was = 0.210, with the variance
of s2=0. 011.For safety purposes the recommended maximum mean crack intensity is 0.100. Test the
hypothesis that the true mean of the highway exceeds the recommended maximum. Use α=0.10

8. The mean of a certain process is known to be 50 with a standard deviation of 2.5.the production manager
may welcome any changes in mean value towards higher side but would like to safeguard against
decreasing values of mean. He takes a sample of 12 items that gives a mean value of 48
a) What inference should the manager take for the production process on the basis of the sample
results? Use 10 per cent level of significance for the purpose
b) What should be the sample size if the mean estimate is 4 % within the of the true value
c) What is the p value for this test?

9. A new curing process developed for a certain type of cement results in a mean compressive strength of
5000 kilograms per square centimeter with a standard deviation of 120 kilograms. To test the hypothesis
 that µ = 5000 against the alternative that µ<5000, a random sample of 50 pieces of cement is tested.
The critical region is defined to be x<4970.
a) Find the probability of committing a type I error when H0 is true.
b) Evaluate ß for the alternatives µ = 4970 and µ = 4960.

10. A metal lathe is checked periodically by quality control inspectors to determine whether it is introducing
machine bearings with a mean diameter of 0.5 inch. If the mean diameter of the bearings is larger or
smaller than 0.5 inch, then the process is out of control and must be adjusted. Formulate the null and
alternative hypotheses for a test to determine whether the bearing production process is out of control.

11. Teenage drivers will inevitably be tempted to drive faster, even to exceed the speed limit, by their
friends. To gain insight into this phenomenon, psychologists from the United Kingdom conducted a
survey of 258 student drivers and reported the results in the one of the journals in British in 2015. One
of the variables of interest was the response to the question, “Are you confident that you can resist your
friends’ persuasion to drive faster?” Each response was measured on a 7-point scale, from 1=
“definitely no”to 7 = “definitely yes.” The data were collected 5 months after the students had attended
a safe-driver presentation. The psychologists reported a sample mean response of 4.98 and a sample
standard deviation of 1.62. Suppose it is known that the true mean response of students who do not
attend a safe-driver presentation is µ = 4.7 .
a) Set up the null and alternative hypotheses for testing whether the true mean student-driver
response 5 months after a safe-driver presentation is larger than 4.7.
b) Calculate the test statistic for the hypothesis test.
c) Find the rejection region for the hypothesis test, using α = 0 5
d) State the appropriate conclusion, in the words of the problem.
e) Do the test results indicate that the safe-driver presentation was effective in helping students
feel more confident that they can resist their friends’ persuasion to drive faster? Explain.

12. Suppose building specifications in a certain city require that the average breaking strength of residential
sewer pipe be more than 3570 kilograms per meter of length (i.e. per linear meter). Each manufacturer
who wants to sell pipe in that city must demonstrate that its product meets the specification. Suppose
the sample mean breaking strength for the 50 sections of sewer pipe turned out to be 3620 kilograms
per linear foot. Assuming that the sample standard deviation is s = 200, does the city have enough
evidence exists to conclude that the manufacturer’s pipe meets specifications? What is the observed
significance level?
13. Most water-treatment facilities monitor the quality of their drinking water on an hourly basis. One
variable monitored is pH, which measures the degree of alkalinity or acidity in the water.
A pH below 7.0 is acidic, one above 7.0 is alkaline, and a pH of 7.0 is neutral.
One water-treatment plant has a target pH of 8.5(Most try to maintain a slightly alkaline level.) The
mean and standard deviation of 1 hour’s test results, based on 17 water samples at this plant, are: x =
8.42 s = 0.16
Does this sample provide sufficient evidence that the mean pH level in the water differs from 8.5?

14. A manufacturer of nickel-hydrogen batteries randomly selects 100 nickel plates for test cells, cycles
them a specified number of times, and determines that 14 of the plates have blistered.
a) Does this provide compelling evidence for concluding that more than 10% of all plates blister
under such circumstances? State and test the appropriate hypotheses using a significance level
of 0.05. In reaching your conclusion, what type of error might you have committed?
b) If it is really the case that 15% of all plates blister under these circumstances and a sample size
of 100 is used, how likely is it that the null hypothesis of part (a) will not be rejected by the level
0.05 test? Answer this question for a sample size of 200.
c) How many plates would have to be tested to have β(0.15) =.1

15. A melting point test of n _ 10 samples of a binder used in manufacturing a rocket propellant resulted in
mean of 154.2 oF Assume that melting point is normally distributed with standard deviation of 1.5oF
a. Test Ho: µ=155 versus Ha µ ≠ 155 using α = 0.01.
b. What is the P-value for this test?
c. What is the β_-error if the true mean is µ150?
d. What value of n would be required if we want β< 0.1 when µ 150? Assume that α 0.01

16. In a random sample of 85 automobile engine crankshaft bearings, 10 have a surface finish roughness
that exceeds the specifications. Does this data present strong evidence that the proportion of crankshaft
bearings exhibiting excess surface roughness exceeds 0.10?
a) State and test the appropriate hypotheses using α=0.05.
b) If it is really the situation that p= 0.15, how likely is it that the test procedure in (a) will not reject
the null hypothesis?
c) If p = 0.15, how large would the sample size have to be for us to have a probability of correctly
rejecting the null hypothesis of 0.9?
17. A major car manufacturer wants to test a new engine to determine whether it meets new air-pollution
standards. The mean emission µ of all engines of this type must be less than 20 parts per million of
carbon. Ten engines are manufactured for testing purposes, and the emission level of each is
determined. The data (in parts per million) are listed below:

Emission Levels for Ten Engines

15.6 16.2 22.5 20.5 16.4 19.4 19.6 17.9 12.7 14.9

a. Do the data supply sufficient evidence to allow the manufacturer to conclude that this type of
engine meets the pollution standard? Assume that the manufacturer is willing to risk a Type I
error with probability α = 0 1
b. Find the observed significance level for the test described in (part a) Interpret the result.

18. A machined engine part produced by a certain company is claimed to have a diameter variance no larger
than 0.0002 inch. A random sample of ten parts gave a sample variance of 0.0003. Assuming normality
of diameter measurements, is there significant evidence to refute the company’s claim? Use α= 0.05
.
19. The dispersion, or variance, of haul times on a construction project is of great importance to
the project supervisor, because highly variable haul times cause problems in scheduling jobs.
The supervisor of the truck crews states that the range of haul times should not exceed 40
minutes (The range is the difference between the longest and shortest times.) Assuming these haul times
to be approximately normally distributed, the project supervisor takes the statement on the range to
mean that the standard deviation (σ should be approximately 10 minutes. Fifteen haul times are actually
measured and show a mean of 142 minutes and a standard deviation of 12 minutes. Can the claim of σ
=10 be refuted at the 5% significance level?

20. A quality control supervisor in a cannery knows that the exact amount each can contains will vary,
since there are certain uncontrollable factors that affect the amount of fill. The mean fill per can is
important, but equally important is the variance of the fill. If σ2 is large, some cans will contain too
little and others too much. Suppose regulatory agencies specify that the standard deviation of the
amount of fill in 16-ounce cans should be less than 0.1 ounce. To determine whether the process is
meeting this specification, the supervisor randomly selects 10 cans and weighs the contents of each.
The results are given below.
 Fill Weights (ounces) of 10 Cans
16.00 15.95 16.10 16.02 15.99 16.06 16.04 16.05 16.03 16.02
Do these data provide sufficient evidence to indicate that the variability is as small as desired?

21. An experiment was performed to compare the fracture toughness of high-purity 18 Ni maraging steel
with commercial purity steel of the same type. For m=32 specimens, the sample average toughness was
65.6 for the high purity steel, while for n=38 specimens of commercial steel the sample mean was 59.8.
Because high purity steel is more expensive, its use for a certain application can be justified only if its
fracture toughness exceeds that of commercial purity steel by more than 5. Assuming that σ =1.2 and
σ =1.1, test the relevant hypotheses using α = 0.001

22. A car company reported results of an experiment to compare handling ability for two cars having quite
difference length, wheelbases, and turning radii. The observations are time in second require to parallel
park each car
Subject 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Car A 37 25.8 16.2 24.2 22 33.4 23.8
Car B 18 20.2 16.8 41.4 21.4 38.4 16.8
Subject 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Car A 58 33.6 24.4 23.4 21.2 36.2 29.8
Car B 32 27.8 23.2 29.6 20.6 32.2 53.8
Does the data suggest that the average person will more easily handle one car than the other? Test
relevant hypotheses using α=0.10

23. A sample of nine local banks shows their deposits (in billions of dollars) 3 years ago and their deposits
(in billions of dollars) today. At a 0.05, can it be concluded that the average in deposits for the banks is
greater today than it was 3 years ago?
Bank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
3 years ago 11.42 8.41 3.98 7.37 2.28 1.1 1 0.9 1.35
Today 16.69 9.44 6.53 5.58 2.92 1.88 1.78 1.5 1.22

24. A survey of 1000 drivers this year showed that 29% of the people send text messages while driving.
Last year a survey of 1000 drivers showed that 17% of those send text messages while driving. At 
0.01, can it be concluded that there has been an increase in the number of drivers who text while
driving?
25. Conservationists have despaired over destruction of tropical rain forest by logging, clearing, and
burning” These words begin a report on statistical study of the effects of logging in one of the forests.
Here is a summary of data on the number of tree species in logged and unlogged plots

Number of
Plot mean variance plots
unlogged 17.5 12.45 12
logged 13.67 20.25 9

Do these data give evidence that logging affects the variation in species counts among plots? Use α=
0.05

26. Test of product quality using inspectors can lead to serious error problems. To evaluate the performance
of inspectors in a new company, a quality manager had sample of 12 novice inspectors evaluate 200
finished products. The same 200 items were evaluated by 12 experienced inspectors. The quality of
each item whether defective or non defective was known to the manager. The following table lists the
number of inspection errors (classifying a defective item as non defective or vice versa) made by each
inspector.

Novice Inspectors Experienced Inspectors

30 35 26 40 31 15 25 19

36 20 45 31 28 17 19 18

33 29 21 48 24 10 20 21

Prior to conducting this experiment, the manager believed that the variance in inspection errors was
lower for experienced inspectors than novice inspectors. Do sample data support her belief? Test using
a= 0.05

27. How quickly do synthetic fabrics such as polyester decay in landfills? A researcher buried polyester
strips in the soil for different lengths of time, then dug up the strips and measured the force required to
break them. Breaking strength is easy to measure and is a good indicator of decay. Lower strength
means the fabric has decayed.
Part of the study buried 10 polyester strips in well-drained soil. Five of the strips chosen at random,
were dug up after 2 weeks; the other 5 were dug up after 16 weeks. Here are the breaking strengths in
pounds.
 2 weeks 118 126 126 120 129

16 weeks 124 98 110 140 110

Using α =.05

a) Is this good evidence that polyester decay more in 16 than in 2 weeks? What is the P value?

b) Does this data indicate that the strengths of one group are subjected to more variability than those of
the other group? What is the P value?

28. In a sample of 200 men, 130 said they used seat belts. In a sample of 300 women, 63 said they used
seat belts. Test the claim that men are more safety conscious than women, at α= 0.01.
What is the P-value?

29. Two insect sprays are to be compared. Two rooms of equal size are sprayed, one with spray 1 and the
other with spray 2. Then 100 insects are released in each room, and after 2 hours the dead insects are
counted. Suppose the result is 64 dead insects in the room sprayed with spray 1 and 52 dead insects in
the other room.
a. Is the evidence significant enough for us to reject, at the 5 percent level, the hypothesis that the
two sprays have equal ability to kill insects?
b. What is the p value of the test in part (a)?

30. A product developer is interested in reducing the drying time of primer paint. Two formulations of the
paint are tested; formulation 1 is the standard chemistry, and formulation 2 has a new drying ingredient
that should reduce the drying time. From experience, it is known that the standard deviation of drying
time is 8 minutes, and this inherent variability should be unaffected by the addition of the new
ingredient. Ten specimens are painted with formulation 1, and another 10 specimens are painted with
formulation 2; the 20 specimens are painted in random order. The two sample average drying times are
121 minutes and 112 minutes, respectively. What conclusions can the product developer draw about
the effectiveness of the new ingredient, using α: = 0.05?

31. A general contractor is considering purchasing lumber from one of the two different suppliers. A sample
of 16 2in x 4 in.’s of a certain length is obtaining from each supplier and then length of each board is
measured. The sample standard deviation of length for the first supplier’s board is found to be s= 0.13
in., while for the second supplier is s= 0.17. Does this data indicate that the lengths of one supplier’s 2
 in. x 4 in. ‘s are subject to more variability than those of other supplier? Test using α= 0.05, 0.01
assuming normality

32. The diameter of steel rods manufactured on two different extrusion machines is being investigated.
Two random samples of sizes n1 15 and n2 17 are selected, and the sample means and sample variances
2 2
are respectively. x 1  8 .73, S1  0 .35, x 2  8.68, and S 2  0.40
2 2
Assume that 1  2 and that the data are drawn from a normal distribution.
a. Is there evidence to support the claim that the two machines produce rods with different mean
diameters? Use 0.05 in arriving at this conclusion.
b. Find the P-value for the t-statistic you calculated in part (a).
c. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the difference in mean rod diameter. Interpret this interval

33. For each of the cases that follow, identify the rejection region that should be used to test
2 2
a. 1 H0= 1   2 against H1= 1  2 .Assume that n1= 20 and n2= 30.
2 2

i.α = 0.10 ii.α = 0.05 iii.α =0.025 iv.α = 0.01

2 2
b. 2 H0= 1   2 against H1= 12  22 .Assume that n1= 8 and n2= 40.
i.α = 0.20 ii.α = 0.10 iii.α = 0.05 iv.α = 0.02

34. Suppose that an experimenter wishes to construct a 99% confidence interval with a length no larger than
L0= 5.0 mm for the difference between the mean thicknesses two types of plastic sheets. Previous
experience suggests that the thicknesses of sheets of type A have a standard deviation of no more than σA=
4.0 mm and that the thicknesses of sheets of type B have a standard deviation of no more than σB= 2.0 mm.
Estimate the sample sizes required, assuming equal sample sizes
When a manufacturing process is operating properly, the mean length of a certain part is known to be 6.175
inches, and lengths are normally distributed. The standard deviation of this length is 0.0080 inches. If a
sample consisting of 6 items taken from current production has a mean length of 6.168 inches, is there
evidence at the 5% level of significance that some adjustment of the process is required?
35. The average daily amount of scrap from a particular manufacturing process is 25.5 kg with a standard
deviation of 1.6 kg. A modification of the process is tried in an attempt to reduce this amount. During
a 10-day trial period, the kilograms of scrap produced each day were: 25.0, 21.9, 23.5, 25.2, 22.0, 23.0,
24.5, 25.0,26.1, 22.8. From the nature of the modification, no change in day-to-day variability of the
amount of scrap will result. The normal distribution will apply. A first glance at the figures suggests
 that the modification is effective in reducing the scrap level. Does a significance test confirm this at the
1% level?

36. Jack Spratt is in charge of quality control of the concrete poured during the construction of a certain
building. He has specimens of concrete tested to determine whether the concrete strength is within the
specifications; these call for a mean concrete strength of no less than 30 MPa. It is known that the
strength of such specimens of concrete will have a standard deviation of 3.8 MPa and that the normal
distribution will apply. Mr. Spratt is authorized to order the removal of concrete which does not meet
specifications. Since the general contractor is a burly sort, Mr. Spratt would like to avoid removing the
concrete when the action is not justified. Therefore, the probability of rejecting the concrete when it
actually meets the specification should be no more than 1%. What size sample should Mr. Spratt use if
a sample mean 10% less than the specified mean strength will cause rejection of the concrete pour?
State the null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis.

37. A testing laboratory is trying to make its results more consistent by standardizing certain procedures.
From a sample of size 28 the sample standard deviation by the revised procedure is found to be 1.74
units. Plotting concentrations on normal probability paper did not show any marked departure from a
normal distribution. Is there evidence at the 5% level of significance that the sample standard deviation
is significantly less than the former population standard deviation of 2.92 units?

38. Company A produces tyres. The mean distance to wear out of these tyres is 108,000 km, and the
standard deviation of the wear out distances is 15,000 km.
a. A distributor who is about to buy those tyres wishes to test a random sample of them. What number
of tyres would have to be tested so there is 98% probability that the mean wear out distance for the
sample is within 5% of the population mean?
b. For sample sizes of 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128, calculate the probability with which the distributor can
claim that the mean wear out distance for the sample is within 5% of the population mean.
c. If the manufacturer’s claim is correct, how many tyres from a shipment of l00 tyres are expected
to wear out in less than 120,000 km?

39. A vote is to be taken among the residents of a town and the surrounding villages to determine whether
a proposed chemical plant should be constructed. The construction site is within the town limits, and
for this reason many voters in the villages believe that the proposal will pass because of the large
proportion of town voters who favor the construction. To determine if there is a significant difference
 in the proportions of town voters and county voters favoring the proposal, a poll is taken. If 120 of
200 town voters favor the proposal and 240 of 500 village residents favor it, would you agree that
the proportion of town voters favoring the proposal is higher than the proportion of county voters?
Use an α =0.05 level of significance.

40. Two catalysts are being analyzed to determine how they affect the mean yield of a chemical process.
Specifically, catalyst 1 is currently in use, but catalyst 2 is acceptable. Since catalyst 2 is cheaper, it
should be adopted, providing it does not change the process yield. A test is run in the pilot plant and
results in the data shown in catalyst yield data table. Is there any difference between the mean yields?
Use α=0.05, and assume equal variances.

Catalyst Yield Data

Observation Catalyst 1 Catalyst 2
Number
1 91.50 89.19
2 94.18 90.95
3 92.18 90.46
4 95.39 93.21
5 91.79 97.19
6 89.07 97.04
7 94.72 91.07
8 89.21 92.75