Chapter 10

Statistical Inference About Means and Proportions with Two Populations

Learning Objectives

1. Be able to develop interval estimates and conduct hypothesis tests about the difference

between two population means when and are known.

2. Know the properties of the sampling distribution of .

3. Be able to use the t distribution to conduct statistical inferences about the difference

between two population means when and are unknown.

4. Learn how to analyze the difference between two population means when the samples are

independent and when the samples are matched.

5. Be able to develop interval estimates and conduct hypothesis tests about the difference

between two population proportions.

6. Know the properties of the sampling distribution of .

Solutions

1. a. x1  x2 = 13.6 – 11.6 = 2

b. 1.645

2  .98 (1.02 to 2.98)

c. 1.96

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 2  1.17 (.83 to 3.17)

2. a.

b. p-value = 1.0000 – .9788 = .0212

c. p-value .05, reject H0.

3. a.

b. p-value = 2(.0630) = .1260

c. p-value > .05, do not reject H0.

4. a. = population mean for smaller cruise ships

= population mean for larger cruise ships

= 85.36 – 81.40 = 3.96

b.

c. 3.96 ± 1.88 (2.08 to 5.84)

5. a. = 135.67 – 68.64 = 67.03

b.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 c. 67.03  17.08 (49.95 to 84.11)

We estimate that men spend $67.03 more than women on Valentine’s Day with a

margin of error of $17.08.

6. μ1 = mean hotel price in Atlanta

= mean hotel price in Houston

H0:

Ha:

p-value = .0351

p-value .05; reject H0. The mean price of a hotel room in Atlanta is lower than

the mean price of a hotel room in Houston.

7. a. = population mean satisfaction score for Publix customers

= population mean satisfaction score for Trader Joe’s customers

H0:

Ha:

b. = 86 – 85 = 1

( x 1−x 2 )−D0 ( 86−85 )−0

z= = =0.97

√ √
2 2 2 2
σ1 σ 2 12 12
+ +
n1 n2 250 300

For this two-tailed test, p-value is two times the upper-tail area at z = 0.97.

p-value = 2(1.0000 – .8340) = .3320

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 p-value¿ .05; do not reject H0. There is not sufficient evidence to conclude that the

population mean satisfaction scores differ for the two retailers.

c.

( 86−85 ) ± 1.96
122 122
+
250 300 √
1 2.01 –1.01 to 3.01)

Because the 95% confidence interval contains zero, the difference between the mean

customer satisfaction score of Publix and Trader Joe’s is not statistically significant at

the 95% confidence level.

8. a. This is an upper-tail hypothesis test.

0:
H

Ha:

p-value = area in upper tail at z = 2.74

p-value = 1.0000 - .9969 = .0031

Because .0031 α = .05, we reject the null hypothesis. The difference is

significant. We can conclude that customer service has improved for Rite Aid.

b. This is another upper-tail test, but it only involves one population.

H0:

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Ha:

p-value = area in upper tail at z = .39

p-value = 1.0000 – .6517 = .3483

Because .3483 > α = .05, we cannot reject the null hypothesis. The difference

is not statistically significant.

c. This is an upper-tail test similar to the one in part a.

H0:

Ha:

p-value = area in upper tail at z = 1.83

p-value = 1.0000 – .9664 = .0336

Because .0336 α = .05, we reject the null hypothesis. The difference is

significant. We can conclude that customer service has improved for Expedia.

d. We will reject the null hypothesis of “no increase” if the p-value ≤ .05. For an upper-

tail hypothesis test, the p-value is the area in the upper tail at the value of the test

statistic. A value of z = 1.645 provides an upper-tail area of .05. So, we must solve the

following equation for .

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 This tells us that as long as the year 2 score for a company exceeds the year 1 score

by 1.80 or more the difference will be statistically significant.

e. The increase from year 1 to year 2 for J.C. Penney is not statistically significant

because it is less than 1.80. We cannot conclude that customer service has improved

for J.C. Penney.

9. a. = 22.5 – 20.1 = 2.4

b.

Use df = 45.

c. t.025 = 2.014

d. 2.4 + 2.1 (.3 to 4.5)

10. a.

b.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Use df = 65.

c. Using t table, area in tail is between .01 and .025 two-tail p-value is between .02

and .05.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = 2.18 is .0329

d. p-value .05, reject H0.

11. a.

b.

c. =9–7=2

d.

Use df = 9, t.05 = 1.833

2 + 2.17 (–.17 to 4.17)

12. a. = 22.5 – 18.6 = 3.9

b.

Use df = 87, t.025 = 1.988

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 3.9 + 3.3 (.6 to 7.2)

13. a.

∑ xi 267.6
x 2= = =22.3
n2 12

b. = 42.5 – 22.3 = 20.2 or $20,200

The mean annual cost to attend private colleges is $20,200 more than the mean

annual cost to attend public colleges.

c.

Use df = 14, t.025 = 2.145

20.2 + 5.5 (14.7 to 25.7)

95% confidence interval, private colleges have a population mean annual cost

$14,700 to $25,700 more expensive than public colleges.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
14. a. H0:

Ha:

b.

( x 1−x 2) −D0 ( 48,537−55,317 )−0

t= = =−2.71

√ √
2 2 2 2
s1 s 2 18,000 10,000
+ +
n1 n2 110 30

c.

( )
2
s 21 s 22
( )
2
+ 18,0002 10,0002
n1 n 2 +
110 30
df = = =85.20

( ) n −1 ( n ) 110−1 ( 110 ) 30−1 ( 30 )

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1 s 1 s 1 18,000 1 10,000
+
1
+2
n −1 n
1 1 2 2

Rounding down, we will use a t distribution with 85 degrees of freedom. From the t

table we see that t = –2.71 corresponds to a p-value between .005 and 0.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = –2.71 is .004.

d. p-value .05, reject H0. We conclude that the salaries of finance majors are lower

than the salaries of business analytics majors.

15. a. μ1 = population mean change in hotels rates in Europe

μ2 = population mean change in hotels rates in the United States

H0: μ1 – μ2 = 0

Ha: μ1 – μ2 ≠ 0 Research hypothesis

b. = 0.039 – 0.047 = – 0.008

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Rounding down, the degrees of freedom = 97. Because this is a two-tailed test, the p-

value is two times the lower-tail area. Using t table, area in lower tail is between .10

and .20; therefore, p-value is between .20 and .40. Using software, p-value =.26.

p-value > .01, do not reject H0. Conclusion: The mean change in hotels rates

in Europe and the United States are not different.

16. a. = population mean verbal score parents college grads

= population mean verbal score parents high school grads

H0:

Ha:

b.

= 525 – 487 = 38 points higher if parents are college grads

c.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Use df = 25.

Using t table, p-value is between .025 and .05.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = 1.80 is .0420/

d. p-value .05, reject H0. Conclude higher population mean verbal scores for students

whose parents are college grads.

17. a. H0:

Ha:

b.

c.

Use df = 16

Using t table, p-value is between .025 and .05.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = 1.99 is .0320.

d. p-value .05, reject H0. The consultant with more experience has a higher population

mean rating.

18. a. Let = population mean minutes late for delayed Delta flights

= population mean minutes late for delayed Southwest flights

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 H0:

Ha:

b. minutes

minutes

The difference between sample mean delay times is 50.6 – 52.8 = –2.2 minutes,

which indicates the sample mean delay time is 2.2 minutes less for Delta.

c. Sample standard deviations: s1 = 26.57 and s2 = 20.11

Use df = 42.

p-value for this two-tailed test is two times the lower-tail area for t = –.32.

Using t table, p-value is greater than 2(.20) = .40.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = –.32 with 42 df is .7506.

p-value > .05, do not reject H0. We cannot reject the assumption that the

population mean delay times are the same at Delta and Southwest Airlines. There is

no statistical evidence that one airline does better than the other in terms of its

population mean delay time.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
19. a. 1, 2, 0, 0, 2

b. d  d i / n 5 / 5 1

 (di  d ) 2 4
sd   1
c. n 1 5 1

d  d 1 0
t  2.24
sd / n 1 / 5
d.

df = n – 1 = 4

Using t table, p-value is between .025 and .05.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = 2.24 is .0443.

Reject H0; conclude μd > 0.

20. a. 3, –1, 3, 5, 3, 0, 1

b. d  di / n 14 / 7 2

c.

d. =2

e. With 6 degrees of freedom t.025 = 2.447

2 + 1.93 (.07 to 3.93)

21. Difference = rating after – rating before

H0: μd ≤ 0

Ha: μd > 0

d = .625 and sd = 1.30

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 df = n – 1 = 7

Using t table, p-value is between .10 and .20.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = 1.36 is .1080.

Do not reject H0; we cannot conclude that seeing the commercial improves the

mean potential to purchase.

∑ di −114.06
i
d= = =−4.56
n 25

22. a. Let

end of first quarter price−beginning of first quarter price

d i=
beginning of first quarter price

∑ di −1.74
i
d= = =−0.07
n 25

b.

sd =
√ ∑ (d ¿¿ i−d)2
i
n−1
=
√ 0.2666
25−1
=0.105 ¿

With df = 24, t.025 = 2.064

= −0.07 ± 2.064 ( 0.105

√25 )
=−0.07 ± 0.04

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Confidence interval: (–0.11 to –0.03)

The 95% confidence interval shows that the population mean percentage

change in the price per share of stock is a decrease of 3% to 11%. This may be a

harbinger of a further stock market swoon.

23. a. μ1 = population mean grocery expenditures

μ2 = population mean dining-out expenditures

H0:

Ha:

b.

df = n – 1 = 41

p-value 0

Conclude that there is a difference between the annual population mean

expenditures for groceries and for dining out.

c. Groceries has the higher mean annual expenditure by an estimated $850.

850  350 (500 to 1200)

24. a. Difference = Current year airfare – Previous year airfare

H0: ≤0

Ha: >0

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Differences 30, 63, –42, 10, 10, –27, 50, 60, 60, –30, 62, 30

df = n – 1 = 11

Using t table, p-value is between .05 and .025.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = 2.05 is .0325.

Because p-value < .05, reject H0. We can conclude that there has been a

significance increase in business travel airfares over the one-year period.

Current year:
b.

Previous year:

c. One-year increase = $487 – $464 = $23

$23/$464 = .05, or a 5% increase in business travel airfares for the one-year period.

25. a. Difference = math score – writing score

H0: =0

Ha: ≠0

Use difference data: 66, 52, 65, –38, 28, –24, 50, 40, –5, 31, 55, –20

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 df = n – 1 = 11

Using t table, lower-tail area is between .025 and .01.

Thus, the two-tailed test p-value is between .05 and .02.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = –2.34 is .0392.

p-value .05, reject H0. Conclude that there is a significant difference

between the population mean scores for the SAT math test and the SAT writing test.

b.

for the math test

for the writing test

The SAT math test has a higher mean score than the SAT writing test.

26. a. H0: μd = 0

Ha: μd  0

Differences: –2, –1, –5, 1, 1, 0, 4, –7, –6, 1, 0, 2, –3, –7, –2, 3, 1, 2, 1, –4

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 df = n – 1 = 19

Using t table, area in tail is between .05 and .10.

Two-tail p-value must be between .10 and .20.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = –1.42 is .1718.

Cannot reject H0. There is no significant difference between the mean scores

for the first and fourth rounds.

b. = –1.05; first round scores were lower than fourth round scores.

α = .05
c.

df = 19 t = 1.729

Margin of error = =

Yes, just check to see if the 90% confidence interval includes a difference of zero. If

it does, the difference is not statistically significant.

90% Confidence interval: –1.05 ± 1.28 (–2.33, .23)

The interval does include 0, so the difference is not statistically significant.

27. a. Difference = Price deluxe – Price standard

H0: μd = 10

Ha: μd ≠ 10

d = 8.86 sd
and = 2.61

d   d 8.86  10
t   116
.
sd / n 2.61 / 7

df = n – 1 = 6

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Using t table, area is between .10 and .20.

Two-tail p-value is between .20 and .40.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = –1.16 is .2901.

Do not reject H0; we cannot reject the hypothesis that a $10 price differential

exists.

b. 95% confidence interval

or (6.45 to 11.27)

28. a. = .48 – .36 = .12

b.

.12 + .0614 (.0586 to .1814)

c.

.12 + .0731 (.0469 to .1931)

29. a.

p - value = 1.0000 – .9554 = .0446

b. p-value .05; reject H0.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
30. = 220/400 = .55 = 192/400 = .48

.07 + .0691 (.0009 to .1391)

Seven percent more executives are predicting an increase in full-time jobs. The

confidence interval shows the difference may be from 0.09% to 13.91%. Because 0%

does not lie strictly within this confidence interval (i.e., the lower limit of the

confidence interval is not negative), we can state with 95% confidence that the

percentage of executives optimistic about hiring is larger in the current year than in

the previous year.

31. a. The point estimate of the proportion of women who trust recommendations made on

Pinterest is = 117/150 = .78.

b. The point estimate of the proportion of men who trust recommendations made on

Pinterest is = 102/170 = .60.

c. = .78 – .60 = .18

.18 ± .0991 (.0809 to .2791)

The 95% confidence interval estimate of the difference between the proportion of

women and men who trust recommendations made on Pinterest is .18 ± .0991 or

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 (.0809 to .2791).

32. Let p1 = the population proportion of tuna that is mislabeled

p2 = the population proportion of mahi mahi that is mislabeled

a. The point estimate of the proportion of tuna that is mislabeled is = 99/220 = .45.

b. The point estimate of the proportion of mahi mahi that is mislabeled is = 56/160

= .35.

c. = .45 – .35 = .10

.10 ± .0989 (.0011 to .1989)

The 95% confidence interval estimate of the difference between the proportion of

tuna and mahi mahi that is mislabeled is .10 ± .0989 or (.0011 to .1989).

33. Let p1 = the population proportion of voters in rural Minnesota voted in the 2016 election

p2 = the population proportion of voters in urban Minnesota voted in the 2016 election

a. H0:

Ha:

b. = 663/884 = .75 75% of voters in rural Minnesota voted in the 2016 election.

c. = 414/575 = .72 72% of voters in urban Minnesota voted in the 2016 election.

d.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Upper-tail p-value is the area to the right of the test statistic.

Using normal table with z = 1.27: p-value = 1 – .8980 = .1020.

p-value > α ; do not reject .

We cannot conclude that voters from rural Minnesota voted more frequently than

voters from urban Minnesota in the 2016 presidential election.

34. Let p1 = the population proportion of wells drilled in 2012 that were dry

p2 = the population proportion of wells drilled in 2018 that were dry

a. H0:

Ha:

b. = 24/119 = .2017

c. = 21/162 = .1111

d.

Upper-tail p-value is the area to the right of the test statistic.

Using normal table with z = 2.10: p-value = 1 – .9821 = .0179.

p-value < .05, so reject H0 and conclude that wells drilled in 2012 were dry

more frequently than wells drilled in 2018—that is, the frequency of dry wells has

decreased over the eight years from 2012 to 2018.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
35. a. Let = population proportion of rooms occupied for current year

= population proportion of rooms occupied for previous year

H0:

Ha:

b. = 1470/1750 = .84 (current year)

= 1458/1800 = .81 (previous year)

c.

p-value is are in the upper tail at z = 2.35.

p-value = 1.0000 – .9906 = .0094

p-value .05, reject H0. There has been an increase in the hotel occupancy rate.

d.

.03 + .025 (.005 to .055)

Officials would likely be pleased with the occupancy statistics. The trend for the

current year is an increase in hotel occupancy rates compared to last year. The point

estimate is a 3% increase with a 95% confidence interval from .5% to 5.5%.

36. a. Let = population proportion of men expecting to get a raise or promotion this year

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 = population proportion of women expecting to get a raise or promotion this year

H0: p1 – p2 < 0

Ha: p1 – p2 > 0

b. p1 = 104/200 = .52 (52%)

= 74/200 = .37 (37%)

c.

p-value = 1.0000 – .9987 = .0013

Reject H0. There is a significant difference between the population proportions with a

great proportion of men expecting to get a raise or a promotion this year.

37. a. Let = population proportion of Carl’s loans that default

= population proportion of Norm’s loans that default

H0: p1 – p2 = 0

Ha: p1 – p2 ≠ 0

b. p1 = 9/60 = 0.15 (15%)

= 7/80 = 0.0875 (8.75%)

n1 p1 + n2 p 2 9+7
c. p= = =.114
n1 + n2 60+80

p 1−p 2 .15−.0875
z= = =1.15

√ 1 1
p (1− p) +
n1 n2( ) √ .114(1−.114)
1 1
+
60 80 ( )

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 p-value ¿ 2(1.0000 – .875) ¿ 0.25

Do no reject H0. We cannot conclude there is a significant difference between the

population default proportions in the loans approved by Carl and the loans approved by

Norm.

38. H0: μ1 – μ2 = 0

Ha: μ1 – μ2 ≠ 0

p-value = 2(1.0000 – .9974) = .0052

p-value .05, reject H0. A difference exists with system B having the lower mean

checkout time.

39. a. Mean monthly lease payment for an SUV in 2015

Mean monthly lease payment for an SUV in 2016

Difference = 652.97 – 540.02 = 112.95

Using sample mean prices, the 2015 mean monthly lease payment for an SUV is

$112.95 more than in 2016.

b.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Use df = 65, t.005 = 2.654.

= 112.95 ± 59.30 (53.65 to 172.25)

We are 99% confident that monthly lease payments for an SUV were between $53.65

and $172.25 higher in 2015 than in 2016.

c. Using the confidence interval of part b, we can with 99% confidence state that 2015 is

higher than 2016 by 53.65 to 172.25 and therefore did decline from2015 t0 2016.

To answer this question, we can also conduct a one-tailed hypothesis test. No

value for the level of significance (α) has been given, but most people would agree

that a p-value .01 would justify concluding that monthly lease payments for an

SUV have decreased from 2015 to 2016.

μ1 = population mean monthly lease payment for an SUV in 2015

μ2 = population mean monthly lease payment for an SUV in 2016.

Research hypothesis

Degrees of freedom = 65 (calculated in part b).

p-value is upper-tail area.

Using t table: p-value is less than .005. Using software, p-value 0. p-value

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 .01, Reject H0. Thus, we are justified in concluding that mean monthly lease

payments for SUVs are higher in 2015 than 2016 and therefore, did decline from

2015 to 2016.

40. a.

b. n1 = 30 n2 = 30

x1 x2
= 16.23 = 15.70

s1 = 3.52 s2 = 3.31

Use df = 57.

Using t table, p-value is greater than .20.

Exact p-value corresponding to t = .60 is .2754.

p-value > .05, do not reject H0. Cannot conclude that the mutual funds with a

load have a greater mean rate of return.

41. a. n1 = 10 n2 = 8

= 21.2 = 22.8

s1 = 2.70 s2 = 3.55

= 21.2 – 22.8 = –1.6

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Kitchens are less expensive by $1600.

b.

Use df = 12, t.05 = 1.782

–1.6 + 2.7 (–4.3 to 1.1)

42. a.

b.

df = n – 1 = 19, t.05 = 1.729

14  20.78 (–6.78 to 34.78)

c. H0: μd = 0

Ha: μd  0

Using t table with df = 19, the area in upper tail is between .20 and .10. Thus, for the

two-tailed test, the p-value is between .20 and .40.

Using software, the exact p-value for t = 1.165 is .258.

Cannot reject H0; cannot concluded that there is a difference between the

mean scores for the no sibling and with sibling groups.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
43. a. Let p1 = population proportion saying financial security more than fair in recent year

p2 = population proportion saying financial security more than fair in previous year

b.

p-value for this two-tailed test is two times the area in the upper tail at z = 2.69.

p-value = 2(1.0000 – .9964) = .0072.

p-value .05, reject H0. Conclude the population proportions are not equal.

There has been a change in the population proportion saying that their financial

security is more than fair.

c.

.06 + .0436

95% Confidence Interval (.0164 to .1036)

Based on the results, the population proportion of adults saying that their

financial security is more than fair has increased between 1.64% and 10.36%.

44. a. = 76/400 = .19

= 90/900 = .10

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 p-value  0

Reject H0; there is a difference between claim rates.

b.

.09 + .0432 (.0468 to .1332)

Claim rates are higher for single males.

45. = 9/142 = .0634

= 5/268 = .0187

p-value = 2(1.0000 – .9911) = .0178

p-value .02, reject H0. There is a significant difference in drug resistance

between the two states. Alabama has the higher drug-resistance rate.

46. Let p1 = the population proportion of American adults under 30 years old

p2 = the population proportion of Americans over 30 years old

a. From the file Computer News, there are 109 Yes responses for each age group. The

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 total number of respondents of the under 30 years group is n1 = 150, whereas the 30

and over group had is n2 = 200 total respondents.

American adults under 30 years old: = 109/150 = .727

Americans over 30 years old: = 109/200 = .545

b.

Confidence interval: .182  1.96(.0506) or .182  .0992 (.0824 to .2809)

c. Because the confidence interval in part b does not include 0 and both values are

positive, conclude that the proportion of American adults under 30 years old who use

a computer to gain access to news is greater than the proportion of Americans over 30

years old that use a computer to gain access to news.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Case Solutions

Case Problem: Par, Inc.

This case can provide discussion and differing opinions as to what hypothesis test should be

conducted. Students should begin to see that logical arguments exist for structuring the

hypotheses differently. In some interpretations of the problem, a two-tailed test can be

appropriate for Par, Inc. In other interpretations of the same problem, a one-tailed test may be

preferred. We suggest accepting different formulations of the Par, Inc., hypothesis test provided

convincing rationale is provided.

Let

1 = population mean driving distance for the current golf ball

2 = population mean driving distance for the new golf ball

We suggest the following hypothesis test:

H0: 1 – 2  0

Ha: 1 – 2 > 0

This formulation is based on the information that the new golf ball is being designed to

“resist cuts and yet still offer good driving distances.” The research hypothesis is not to prove the

new golf ball outdistances the current golf ball. In fact, Par could claim an improved quality with

the cut resistance improvement provided the new golf ball has the same or better driving

distance. The hypotheses have been structured so that rejection of H0 corresponds to the

conclusion that the new golf ball has the lower mean driving distances; this conclusion indicates

that the cut resistance advantage may be offset by the loss of distance.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 The sample mean for the current golf ball was 270.275, and the sample mean for the new

golf ball was 267.50. On average, the current golf ball had a 2.775 yard advantage. Using the .05

level of significance, a p-value = 0.094 indicates H0 cannot be rejected. The data do not provide

statistical evidence to conclude that the new golf ball has a lower mean driving distance than the

current golf ball.

The argument should be made that in failing to reject H0, the research findings are

inconclusive.

Although the data do not show the new golf ball with a significantly lower mean driving

distance, the researcher should not be ready to conclude the mean distance for the new golf ball

is equal to or better than the current golf ball. A potential for a type II error exists with this

conclusion. This is a case where continued study with more data should be relatively easy. With

the mechanical hitting machine, samples of several hundred golf balls can be taken without much

trouble.

With more data, Par should have a good idea of the difference between the means for the

two golf balls.

© 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.