ST T315 Practice Problems C h.1- 3.

Sol ve the prob lem.

1) The average age of the students in a statistics class is 22 years. Does this statement describe descriptive or
inferential statistics?
A) Inferential statistics B) D escripti ve statistics

2) From past figures, it is predicted that 30% of the registered voters w ill vote in the March primary. Does this
statement describe descriptive or inferential statistics?
A) D escripti ve statistics B) Inferential statistics

A nsw er the question True or False.

3) The process of using information from a sample to make generalizations about the larger population is called
statistical inference.
A) True B) False

Sol ve the prob lem.

4) W hich of the following is not an element of descriptive statistical problems?
A) information revealed in a data set is summarized
B) predictions are made about a larger set of data
C) data are displayed visually in graphs
D) patterns in a data set are identified

5) A n assembly line is operating satisfactorily if fe wer than 4% of the phones produced per day are defective. To
check the quality of a day's production, the company randomly samples 10 phones from a day's production to
test for defects. Define the population of interest to the manufacturer.
A) the 10 phones sampled and tested
B) all the phones produced d uring the day in question
C) the 4% of the phones that are defective
D) the 10 responses: defective or not defective

6) A n insurance company conducted a stud y to determine the percentage of cardiologists w ho had been sued for
malpractice in the previous three years. The sample was randomly chosen from a national directory of doctors.
W hat is the variable of interest in this stud y?
A) the doctor's area of expertise (i.e., cardiology, pediatrics, etc.)
B) the responses: have been sued/have not been sued for malpractice in the last three years
C) all cardiologists in the directory
D) the number of doctors w ho are cardiologists

7) A postal worker counts the number of complaint letters received by the U nited States Postal Service in a given
day. Identify the type of data collected.
A) qualitative B) quantitative

8) A n usher records the number of unoccupied seats in a movie theater d uring each view ing of a film. Identify the
type of data collected.
A) qualitative B) quantitative

9) A fan observes the numbers on the shirts of a girl's soccer team. Identify the type of data collected.
A) qualitative B) quantitative

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 10) W hat number is missing from the table?

Year in Relative
College Frequency Frequency
Freshman 600 .30
Sophomore 560 .28
Junior .22
Senior 400 .20

A) 520 B) 440 C) 220 D) 480

11)

T he bar graph sho ws the political affiliation of 1,000 registered U.S. voters. W hat percentage of the voters
belonged to one of the traditional two parties (Democratic or Republican)?
A) 75% B) 40% C) 25% D) 35%

A nsw er the question True or False.

12) If 25% of your statistics class is sophomores, then in a pie chart representing classifications of the students in
your statistics class the slice assigned to sophomores is 90°.
A) True B) False

13) The slices of a pie chart must be arranged from largest to smallest in a clock w ise direction.
A) True B) False

14) The bars in a histogram should be arranged by height in descending order from left to right.
A) True B) False

15) A histogram can be constructed using either class frequencies or class relative frequencies as the heights of the
bars.
A) True B) False

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Sol ve the prob lem.
16) A survey w as conducted to determine how people feel about the quality of programming available on
television. Respondents were asked to rate the overall quality from 0 (no quality at all) to 100 (extremely good
quality). The stem - and - leaf display of the data is show n below.

Stem Leaf
3 2 9
4 0 3 4 7 8 9 9 9
5 0 1 1 2 3 4 5
6 1 2 5 6 6
7 1 9
8
9 6

W hat percentage of the respondents rated overall television quality as very good (regarded as ratings of 80 and
above)?
A) 4% B) 6% C) 1% D) 24%

17) Parking at a university has become a problem. U niversity administrators are interested in determining the
average time it takes a student to find a parking spot. A n administrator inconspicuously followed 170 students
and recorded how long it took each of them to find a parking spot. W hich of the follow ing types of graphs
should not be used to display information concerning the stu dents parking times?
A) pie chart B) box plot
C) stem - and - leaf display D) histogram

18) Fill in the blank. O ne advantage of the __________ is that the actual data values are retained in the graphical
su mmarization of the data.
A) histogram B) pie chart C) stem - and - leaf plot

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19) A data set contains the observations 7, 4, 2, 3, 1. Find x .
A) 289 B) 17 C) 34 D) 79

20)

For the distribution draw n here, identify the mean, median, and mode.
A) A = mode, B = mean, C = median B) A = mean, B = mode, C = median
C) A = mode, B = median, C = mean D) A = median, B = mode, C = mean

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 21) W hich of the follow ing is not a measure of central tendency?
A) med ian B) mode C) range D) mean

22) T he output belo w displays the mean and median for the state high school dropout rates in 1998 and 2002.

Drop 1998 D rop 2002

N 51 51
MEA N 28.15 26.75
M ED I A N 27.43 25.65

Use the information to determine the shape of the distributions of the high school dropout rates in 1998 and
2002.
A) Both the 1998 and 2002 high school dropout rates have distributions that are skewed to the right.
B) The 1998 high school dropout rate has distribution skewed to the left and and 2002 has distribution
skewed to the right.
C) The 1998 high school dropout rate has distribution skewed to the right and and 2002 has distribution
skewed to the left.
D) Both the 1998 and 2002 high school dropout rates have distributions that are skewed to the right.
E) N either of the answers above is correct

23) The calculator screens summarize a data set.

a. H ow many data items are in the set?

b. W hat is the sample standard deviation?
c. Identify the mean, median, and mode, if possible.
d. A re there any outlires? Explain.
e. Is the distribution of the data symetric and skewed? If skewed, w hich way? Explain.

24) T he top speeds for a sample of five new automobiles are listed below. Calculate the standard deviation of the
speeds. N O T E: on the test you might be asked to compute by hand, show ing steps and using formula.

180, 175, 200, 100, 170

A) 149.82 B) 188.2551 C) 38.0789 D) 263.6522

A nsw er the question True or False.

25) T he mean and the median are useful measures of central tendency for both qualitative and quantitative data.
A) True B) False

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Sol ve the prob lem.
26) A standardized test has a mean score of 500 points w ith a standard dev iation of 100 points. Five students'
scores are shown below.

A dam: 575 Beth: 690 Carlos: 750 Doug: 280 Ella: 440

W hich of the students have scores w ithin two standard deviations of the mean?
A) C arlos, D oug B) A dam, Beth, Ella
C) A dam, Beth D) A dam, Beth, Carlos, Ella

27) T he amount of television viewed by today's youth is of primary concern to Parents A gainst W atching Television
(P A W T). 300 parents of elementary school - aged children were asked to estimate the number of hours per week
that their child watches television. The mean and the standard deviation for their responses were 12 and 2,
respectively. P A W T constructed a stem - and - leaf display for the data that sho wed that the distribution of times
w as a sy mmetric, mound - shaped distribution. Give an interval w here you believe approximately 95% of the
television vie w ing times fell in the distribution.
A) less than 10 and more than 14 hours per week B) bet ween 6 and 18 hours per week
C) bet ween 8 and 16 hours per week D) less than 16

28) A recent survey w as conducted to compare the cost of solar energy to the cost of gas or electric energy. Results
of the survey revealed that the distribution of the amount of the monthly utility bill of a 3- bedroom house using
gas or electric energy had a mean of $150 and a standard deviation of $8. If the distribution can be considered
mound - shaped and symmetric, w hat percentage of homes w ill have a monthly utility bill of more than $142?
A) approximately 16% B) approximately 84%
C) approximately 34% D) approximately 95%

29) A study w as designed to investigate the effects of two variables (1) a student's level of mathematical anxiety
and (2) teaching method on a student's achievement in a mathematics course. Stu dents w ho had a lo w level of
mathematical anxiety were taught using the traditional expository method. These students obtained a mean
score of 430 w ith a standard deviation of 20 on a standardized test. A ssu ming no information concerning the
shape of the distribution is know n, w hat percentage of the students scored between 390 and 470?
A) approximately 95% B) at least 89%
C) at least 75% D) approximately 68%

30) A radio station claims that the amount of ad vertising each hour has a mean of 17 minutes and a standard
deviation of 1.7 minutes. You listen to the radio station for 1 hour and observe that the amount of ad vertising
time is 7 minutes. Calculate the z - score for this amount of ad vertising time.
A) z = - 17 B) z = 0.31 C) z = 5.88 D) z = - 5.88

31) Test scores for a history class had a mean of 79 w ith a standard deviation of 4.5. Test scores for a physics class
had a mean of 69 with a standard deviation of 3.7. O ne student earned a 57 on the history test and a 60 on the
physics test. Calculate the z - score for each test. O n w hich test did the student perform better?

32) Summary information is given for the weights (in pounds) of 1000 randomly sampled tractor trailers.

MIN: 4005 25%: 5605

M A X: 10,605 75%: 8605
A VE: 7005 Std. D ev.: 1400

Find the percentage of tractor trailers with weights between 5605 and 8605 pounds.
A) 50% B) 100% C) 25% D) 75%

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33) T he speeds of the fastballs throw n by major league baseball pitchers w ere measured by radar gun. The mean
speed was 83 miles per hour. The standard deviation of the speeds w as 5 mph. W hich of the follow ing speeds
w ould be classified as an outlier?
A) 73 mph B) 91 mph C) 78 mph D) 99 mph

34) W hich of the follow ing statements could be an explanation for the presence of an outlier in the data?
A) The measurement may be correct and from the same population as the rest but represents a rare event.
G enerally, we accept this explanation only after carefully ruling out all others.
B) The measurement belongs to a population different from that from w hich the rest of the sample was
dra wn.
C) The measurement is incorrect. It may have been observed, recorded, or entered into the computer
incorrectly.
D) A ll of the above are explanations for outliers.

35) A t the U.S. O pen Tennis C hampionship a statistician keeps track of every serve that a player hits during the
tournament. The low er quartile of a particular player's serve speeds was reported to be 88 mph. W hich of the
follow ing interpretations of this information is correct?
A) 25% of the player's serves were hit at 88 mph.
B) 88 serves traveled faster than the lower quartile.
C) 75% of the player's serves were hit at speeds less than 88 mph.
D) 75% of the player's serves were hit at speeds greater than 88 mph.

36) The calculator screens summarize a data set.

a. Identify the lower and upper quartiles of the data set.

b. Find the interquartile range.
c. Is there reason to suspect that the data may contain an outlier? Explain.

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37) T he box plot sho w n below displays the amount of soda that was poured by a filling machine into 12- ounce
soda cans at a local bottling company.

Based on the box plot, w hat shape do you believe the distribution of the data to have?
A) skewed to the center B) approximately symmetric
C) skewed to the left D) skewed to the right

38) If sample points A , B, C, and D are the only possible outcomes of an experiment, find the probability of D using
the table below.

Sam ple Point A B C D

1 1 1
Probability
8 8 8

1 1 5 3
A) B) C) D)
8 4 8 8

39) A bag of candy was opened and the number of pieces was counted. The results are show n in the table below:

Color N u mber
Red 25
Brow n 20
Green 20
Blue 15
Yellow 10
O range 10

List the sample space for this problem.

A) {Red, Bro w n, Green, Blue, Yellow, O range} B) {Red}
C) {25, 20, 20, 15, 10, 10} D) {0.25, 0.20, 0.20, 0.15, 0.10, 0.10}

40) T he outcome of an experiment is the nu mber of resu lting heads w hen a nickel and a dime are flipped
simultaneously. W hat is the sample space for this experiment?
A) { H H , H T, T H , TT} B) {nickel, dime} C) { H H , H T, TT} D) {0, 1, 2}

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41) A n experiment consists of rolling two dice and summ i ng the resu lti ng val ues. W hich of the follow ing is not a
sample point for this experiment?
A) 1 B) 7 C) 6 D) 2

42) A hospital reports that two patients have been admitted w ho have contracted Crohn's disease. Suppose our
experiment consists of observing w hether each patient survives or dies as a result of the disease. The simple
events and probabilities of their occurrences are show n in the table (w here S in the first position means that
patient 1 survives, D in the first position means that patient 1 dies, etc.).

Simple Events Probabilities

SS 0.52
SD 0.19
DS 0.16
DD 0.13

Find the probability that both patients survive.

A) 0.2704 B) 0.52 C) 0.13 D) 0.35

43) A hospital reports that two patients have been admitted w ho have contracted Crohn's disease. Suppose our
experiment consists of observing w hether each patient survives or dies as a result of the disease. The simple
events and probabilities of their occurrences are show n in the table (w here S in the first position means that
patient 1 survives, D in the first position means that patient 1 dies, etc.).

Simple Events Probabilities

SS 0.56
SD 0.20
DS 0.19
DD 0.05

Find the probability that at least one of the patients does not survive.
A) 0.05 B) 0.20 C) 0.39 D) 0.44

44) The table displays the probabilities for each of the outcomes w hen three fair coins are tossed and the number of
heads is counted. Fin d the probability that the n umber of heads on a single toss of the three coins is at most 2.

O utcome 0 1 2 3
Probability .125 .375 .375 .125

A) .125 B) .750 C) .875 D) .500

45) T wo chips are dra w n at random and w ithout replacement from a bag containing four blue chips and three red
chips. Find the probability of draw ing t wo red chips.
1 1 9 6
A) B) C) D)
12 7 49 7

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46) The data below sho w the types of medals w on by athletes representing the U nited States in the W inter
O lympics. Suppose that one medal is chosen at random and the type of medal noted.

gold gold silver gold bronze silver silver

bronze gold silver silver bronze silver gold
gold silver silver bronze bronze gold silver
gold gold bronze bronze

a. List the sample points for this experiment.

b. Find the probability of each sample point.
c. W hat is the probability that the medal was not bronze?

47) A pair of fair dice is tossed. Events A and B are defined as follows.

A : {The sum of the numbers on the dice is 3}

B: { A t least one of the dice shows a 2}

Identify the sample points in the event A B.

A) {(1, 2), (2, 1)}
B) {(2, 1), (2, 2), (2, 3), (2, 4), (2, 5), (2, 6)}
C) {(1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2), (2, 3), (2, 4), (2, 5), (2, 6), (3, 2), (4, 2), (5, 2), (6, 2)}
D) {(2, 2), (2, 3), (2, 4), (2, 5), (2, 6), (3, 2), (4, 2), (5, 2), (6, 2)}

48) Four hundred accidents that occurred on a Saturday night were analy zed. The number of vehicles involved and
w hether alcohol played a role in the accident were recorded. The results are show n below:

N umber of Vehicles Involved

D id A lcohol Play a Role? 1 2 3 or more Totals
Yes 59 99 12 170
No 22 177 31 230
Totals 81 276 43 400

Suppose that one of the 400 accidents is chosen at random. W hat is the probability that the accident involved
more than a single vehicle?
43 81 319 3
A) B) C) D)
400 400 400 100

49) A local country club has a membership of 600 and operates facilities that include an 18- hole championshi p golf
course and 12 tennis courts. Before deciding w hether to accept new members, the club president would like to
know how many members regularly use each facility. A survey of the membership indicates that 60% regularly
use the golf course, 44% regularly use the tennis courts, and 8% use both of these facilities regularly. Find the
probability that a randomly selected member uses the golf or tennis facilities regularly.

N O TE: DR A W a com plete V E N N DI A GR A M for this problem

50) Suppose that 62% of the employees at a company are male and that 35% of the employees just received merit
raises. If 20% of the employees are male and received a merit raise, w hat is the probability that a randomly
chosen employee is male or received a merit raise?

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51) A pair of fair dice is tossed. Events A and B are defined as follows.

A : {The sum of the numbers on the dice is 6}

B: { A t least one of the numbers 3}

a. Identify the sample points in the event A B.

b. Identify the sample points in the event A B.
c. Fin d P( A B).
d. Fin d P( A B).

52) A state energy agency mailed questionnaires on energy conservation to 1,000 homeow ners in the state capital.
Five hundred questionnaires were returned. Su ppose an experiment consists of randomly selecting one of the
returned questionnaires. Consider the events:

A : {The home is constructed of brick}

B: {The home is more than 30 years old}
D : {The home is heated w ith oil}

W hich of the follow ing describes the event B D c?

A) homes more than 30 years old that are heated w ith oil
B) homes that are not older than 30 years old and heated w ith oil
C) homes more than 30 years old or homes that are not heated w ith oil
D) homes more than 30 years old that are not heated with oil

53) A n insurance company looks at many factors w hen determining how much insurance w ill cost for a home. T wo
of the factors are listed below:

A : {The home's roof is less than 10 years old}

B: {T he home has a security system}

In the words of the problem, define the event Bc.

A) The home has a security system B) T he home does not have a security system
C) The home is less than 10 years old D) The home is not less than 10 years old

54) If P( A B) = 1 and P( A B) = 0, then w hich statement is true?

A) A and B are supplementary events. B) A and B are reciprocal events.
C) A and B are both empty events. D) A and B are complementary events.

55) In a class of 40 students, 22 are w omen, 10 are earning an A , and 7 are women that are earning an A . If a student
is randomly selected from the class, find the probability that the student is a woman given that the student is
earning an A .
7 11 7 5
A) B) C) D)
22 20 10 11

56) Suppose a basketball player is an excellent free throw shooter and makes 91% of his free thro ws (i.e., he has a
91% chance of making a single free thro w). A ssume that free throw shots are independent of one another. Find
the probability that the player misses four consecutive free throws.
A) 0.6857 B) 0.0001 C) 0.9999 D) 0.3143

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57) Classify the events as dependent or independent: Events A and B where P( A ) = 0.3, P(B) = 0.4, and
P( A and B) = 0.12.
A) dependent B) independent

58) Classify the events as dependent or independent: Events A and B where P( A ) = 0.6, P(B) = 0.9, and
P( A and B) = 0.53.
A) dependent B) independent

59) A t a certain university, 70% of the students ow n cars. H owever, only 45% of the residence hall students o w n
cars. A re the events o w ning a car and living in a residence hall independent? Explain.

60) In a particular tow n, 20% of the homes have monitored security systems. If an alarm is triggered, the security
system company will contact the local police to alert them of the alarm. O f all the alarm calls that the local
police receive, they only have the manpower to answ er 30% of the calls. Suppose we randomly sample one
home that was broken into over the last month from this tow n. W hat is the probability that this home has a
monitored security system and that the police answ ered the alarm call?
A) 0.2000 B) 0.0600 C) 0.3000 D) 0.9400

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A nsw er K ey
Testname: PR A C TI C E 1 N E W

1) B
2) B
3) A
4) B
5) B
6) B
7) B
8) B
9) A
10) B
11) A
12) A
13) B
14) B
15) A
16) A
17) A
18) C
19) A
20) C
21) C
22) A
23) a. n = 21
b. x = 1679
c. mean: x 79.95; median: Med=82; mode: not possible
24) C
25) B
26) B
27) C
28) B
29) C
30) D
31) history z - score = - 4.89; physics z - score = - 2.43; The student performed better on the physics test.
32) A
33) D
34) D
35) D
36) a. low er quartile: Q1=75; upper quartile: Q3=90
b. interquartile range: 90 - 75 = 15
c. Yes; the smallest measurement, 30, is three times the interquartile range less than the lower quartile, so it is a
suspected outlier.
37) C
38) C
39) A
40) D
41) A
42) B
43) D
44) C

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A nsw er K ey
Testname: PR A C TI C E 1 N E W

45) B
46) a. {gold, silver, bronze}
9 9 4
b. P(gold) = = .36, P(silver) = = .36, P (bronze) = = .28
25 25 25
9 9 18
c. P(gold) + P(silver) = + = = .72
25 25 25
47) A
48) C
49) P(uses golf or tennis regularly)
= P(golf) + P(tennis) - P(both tennis and golf)
= .60 + .44 - .8 = .96
50) Using the A dditive Rule, the probability is .62 + .35 - .20 = .77.
51) a. {(1, 3), (1, 5), (2, 3), (2, 4), (3, 1), (3, 2), (3, 3), (3, 4), (3, 5) (3, 6)
(4, 2), (4, 3), (5, 1), (5, 3), (6, 3)}
b. {(3, 3)}
15 5
c. P( A B) = =
36 12
1
d. P( A B) =
36
52) C
53) B
54) D
55) C
56) B
57) B
58) A
59) N o; P(ow ning car) = .7 and P(o w ning car | residence hall) = .45; Since these probabilities are not equal, the events are
not independent.
60) B

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