SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT
QUANTITATIVE METHODS BBA 240
SUPPLEMEMNTARY EXAMINATION
JUNE 2013
09:00- 12:00 HOURS
Time allowed: 3 HOURS plus 5minutes reading time
Instructions to Candidates:
1. Check that you have the correct examination paper in front of you.
2. Answer Question ONE (4 Compulsory Questions) and CHOOSE AND ANSWER ANY THREE
QUESTIONS OUT OF SIX IN QUESTION TWO. IN ALL, ANSWER SEVEN QUESTIONS.
3. All questions must be answered in the answer booklet only.
4. Write down the number of questions that you have answered on the cover of the examination
answer booklet.
5. Begin each question on a new page.
6. Non-Programmable Electronic Calculators are allowed
7. No books, files or other mechanical / electronic aids are permitted.
8. There shall be no form of communication between students during the examination. Any students
caught doing this will be disqualified.
DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO.
QUESTION ONE – COMPULSORY QUESTIONS – ANSWER ALL FOUR QUESTIONS (40 marks)
A. Determine the mean and standard deviation of the following frequency distribution.
Class Frequency
20 up to 30 7
30 up to 40 12
50 up to 50 21
50 up to 60 18
60 up to 70 12
(10 Marks)
B. a. What is the z value?
b. What is a symmetric distribution?
c. What is a confidential interval (with a known population standard deviation σ)
d. What is a proportion? (10 Marks)
C. A supermarket in the Woodlands Suburb, which has 5 regular customers, stocks products r, s, t, u,
v, w, x and y. Customer A buys products r, s, t and v only and this is represented in set form as
A={r, s, t, v}. Also B={r, t, v, w, x}, C={r, t, x}, D={r, v, w} and E={r, v, w, x}. Specify the
elements of each of the following sets, giving its meaning in words.
a) A universal set, U, for A, B, C, D and E
b) A D
c) E B
d) ̅ (That is C’, Complement of C)
e) (A C) ̅
f) A B C D E
g) (A B C D E)’, that is, the complement of the intersection of A, B, C, D AND E.
(10 Marks)
D. In the last Mid – Semester Examination in Statistics for the Full and Part Time Class at
UNILUS the marks obtained by students were approximately normally distributed with a
mean of 65 and a standard deviation of 16.5.
a) If you obtained marks of 45, how far, in terms of standard deviation, did your marks
depart from the mean?
b) What percentage of those who sat for the Mid – Semester Exam got marks higher
than yourself? (10 Marks)
QUESTION TWO – ANSWER ANY THREE QUESTIONS
A. 1) The data below relates to the number of successful sales of bundles of fish made by the
salesmen employed by a large Fishing Company in Siavonga in a particular quarter. Calculate
the mean, variance and standard deviation. (10 Marks)
Number of Bundles Sold Number of Salesmen
0 to 4 1
5 to 9 14
10 to 14 23
15 to 19 21
20 to 24 15
25 to 29 6
2) A sports analyst at ZNBC predicts that in the forthcoming Brazil World Cup qualifying football
match between Zambia and the Sudan, to be played at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola,
the odds are 7 to 5 in favour of the Chipolopolo of Zambia winning the match. What is the
probability that Zambia will win the match? (10 Marks)
B. 1) A Large Departmental store at Manda Hill Shopping Mall has a policy whereby customers who
had purchased damaged or defective goods are free to return them and get a replacement or a
refund. The number of items returned per day follows the normal distribution. The mean
number of customer returns 10.3 per day and the standard deviation is 2.25 per day. (10 Marks)
a) In what percent of the days are there 8 or fewer customers returning items?
b) In what percent of the days are between 12 and 14 customers returning items?
c) Is there any chance of a day with no returns?
2) Give definitions for the following statistical terms, with examples where possible. (10 Marks)
a) What is probability?
b) What is an event in probability?
c) What is an outcome in probability?
d) What is a random variable in probability?
C. 1) The mean and standard deviation of the maximum loads supported by 60 cables at a workshop
for Manica Freight Company are given by 11-09 tons and 0.73 tons, respectively. Find (a) the 95% and
(b) 99% confidence limits for the mean of the maximum loads of all cables produced by the company.
(10 Marks)
2) A recent survey by the Chartered Professional Accounting Association of Zambia revealed that
23 percent of students graduating with a major in accounting select public accounting. Suppose
we select a sample of 15 recent graduates. If the selection of the type of accounting job by these
students follows a binomial distribution, (10 Marks)
a. What is the probability two select public accounting?
b. What is the probability five select public accounting?
c. How many students would you expect to select public accounting?
D. 1) The breaking strengths of cables produced by a manufacturer in Lusaka’s Industrial Area have a
mean of 1800 kg and a standard deviation of 100 kg. By a new technique in the manufacturing process,
it is claimed that the breaking strength can be increased. To test this claim, a sample of 50 cables is
tested and it is found that the mean breaking strength is 1850 kg. Can we support the claim at the 0.01
significance level? (10 Marks)
H0: = 1800 kg, that there is really no change in the breaking strength.
H1: 1800kg, that there is a change in the breaking strength.
2) Recent crime reports by the Lusaka Police indicate that 3.1 lady hand bag thefts occur
each minute on Lusaka’s Kafue road. Assume that the distribution of thefts per minute can be
approximated by the poisson distribution. (10 Marks)
(i) Calculate the probability exactly four thefts occur in a minute.
(ii) What is the probability there are no thefts in a minute?
(iii) What is the probability there is at least one theft in a minute?
E.1) A sample of 36 observations is selected from a normal population. The sample mean is
21, and the population standard deviation is 5. Conduct the following test of hypothesis using
the 0.05 significance level (Critical value is ). (10 Marks)
H0:
H1:
2) Give the definition of the following terms with examples where possible (10 Marks)
a) What is combination?
b) What is the permutation?
c) Range is the simplest measure of dispersion for numerical values. How is it determined?
d) What is the median?
e)) What is the variance?
F. 1) In a binomial situation, n = 4 and P = 0.25. Determine the probabilities of the following
events using the binomial formula. (10 Marks)
(a) X = 2
(b) X = 3
2) A study of the checkout lines at the Shoprite Supermarket in Chilenje South revealed
that between 16.00 and 17.00 hours on weekdays there is an average of four customers waiting
in line. Given that this waiting by customers follows a poisson distribution, what is the
probability that if you visit Shoprite in Chilenje South today during this period, you find
(10 Marks)
a) No customers are waiting?
b) Four customers are waiting?
c) Four or fewer are waiting?
d) Four or more are waiting?
END OF EXAMINATION PAPER.
