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Unit Test 5 - MC Review Practice

5.2 The Normal Distribution, Revisited

1. The mean and standard deviation of the sample data collected on continuous variable x are
−0.25 and 0.03, respectively. The following table shows the relative frequencies of the data in the
given intervals.
Based on the table, do the data support the use of a normal model to approximate population
characteristics?

2. The continuous random variable N has a normal distribution with mean 7.5 and standard
deviation 2.5. For which of the following is the probability equal to 0?
3. Data will be collected on the following variables. Which variable is most likely to be
approximated by a normal model?
A. The distribution of the number of books read last week by middle school students, where
the right tail of the distribution is longer than the left
B. The distribution of life span, in minutes, for batteries of a certain size, where most life
spans cluster around the center of the distribution but with some very low and some very
high life spans
C. The distribution of ages, in years, of the students at a certain college, where most students
are between 18 and 22 years old, but ages greater than 22 will probably be more spread out
than ages less than 18
D. The distribution of the number of birthdays per month for the employees at a certain
company, where the number of birthdays in each month is approximately equal
E. The distribution of the length of a stay, in days, in a hospital after surgery, where many
patients have very short hospital stays, but some stays are quite lengthy and considered
high outliers

4. Clara recorded 50 numerical observations on a certain variable and then calculated the mean
x¯ and the standard deviation s for the observations. To help decide whether a normal model is
appropriate, she created the following chart.

In Clara’s chart, the letters a,b,c,d, and e represent the number of observations falling in each
interval. Which of the following list of counts for a,b,c,d, and e, respectively, is the best indicator
that the variable can be modeled with a normal approximation?
5. The distribution of time needed to complete a certain programming task is approximately
normal, with a mean of 47 minutes and standard deviation of 6 minutes. Which of the following is
closest to the probability that a randomly chosen task will take less than 34 minutes or more than
60 minutes to complete?

6. A machine is used to fill bags with a popular brand of trail mix. The machine is calibrated so the
distribution of the weights of the bags of trail mix is normal, with a mean of 240 grams and a
standard deviation of 3 grams. Of the following, which is the least weight of a bag in the top 5
percent of the distribution?
5.3 The Central Limit Theorem

7. In a recent survey, the proportion of adults who indicated mystery as their favorite type of book
was 0.325. Two simulations will be conducted for the sampling distribution of a sample proportion
from a population with a true proportion of 0.325. Simulation A will consist of 1,500 trials with a
sample size of 100. Simulation B will consist of 2,000 trials with a sample size of 50.

Which of the following describes the center and variability of simulation A and simulation B?

8. A recent survey indicated that the mean time spent on a music streaming service is 210 minutes
per week for the population of a certain country. A simulation was conducted to create a sampling
distribution of the sample mean for a population with a mean of 210. The following histogram
shows the results of the simulation.
Which of the following would be the best reason why the simulation of the sampling distribution is
not approximately normal?

9. A recent report indicated that 90 percent of adults in a certain region actively try to include
vegetables in their diet. A simulation was conducted that consisted of 50 trials with a population
parameter of 0.9. Each trial consisted of a sample size of 10. The number of successes out of 10
was recorded, where success represented an adult trying to include vegetables in the diet.
Five possible simulation results are shown. Which simulation is the best match to the one
described?

A.

B.

C.

D.
 E.

5.5 Sampling Distributions for Sample Proportions

10. A bag contains chips of which 27.5 percent are blue. A random sample of 5 chips will be
selected one at a time and with replacement. What are the mean and standard deviation of the
sampling distribution of the sample proportion of blue chips for samples of size 5?

11. A manufacturer of cell phone screens has found that 5 percent of all screens produced have
defects. Let pd represent the population proportion of all cell phone screens with a screen defect,
therefore pd=0.05. For the sampling distribution of the sample proportion of cell phone screens
from this manufacturer with a screen defect for sample size 400, μpˆd=0.05. Which of the
following is the best interpretation of μpˆd=0.05?

12. A national charity contacted 100 randomly selected people by phone, and 7 percent of those
contacted made a donation to the charity. The population proportion of those who make a donation
when contacted by phone is known to be p=0.05. For samples of size 100, which of the following
best interprets the mean of the sampling distribution of the sample proportion of people who make
a donation when contacted by phone?

13. On any given day, the proportion of workers at a factory who are more than 5 minutes late to
work is 0.11. A random sample of 20 workers will be selected. Which of the following is the best
interpretation of the mean of the sampling distribution of the sample proportion of workers in the
sample who are more than 5 minutes late to work for samples of size 20 ?
14. City officials estimate that 46 percent of all city residents are in favor of building a new city
park. A random sample of 150 city residents will be selected. Suppose that 51 percent of the
sample are in favor of building a new city park. Which of the following is true about the sampling
distribution of the sample proportion for samples of size 150?

15. A sample of size n will be selected from a population with population proportion p. Which of
the following must be true for the sampling distribution of the sample proportion to be
approximately normal?
16. For a certain population of sea turtles, 18 percent are longer than 6.5 feet. A random sample of
90 sea turtles will be selected. What is the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of the
sample proportion of sea turtles longer than 6.5 feet for samples of size 90?

17. A certain skin cream is 80 percent effective in curing a common rash. A random sample of 100
people with the rash will use the cream. Which of the following is the best description of the shape
of the sampling distribution of the sample proportion of those who will be cured?
5.7 Sampling Distributions for Sample Means

18. For which of the following conditions is it not appropriate to assume that the sampling
distribution of the sample mean is approximately normal?

19. At a certain high school, the distribution of backpack weight is approximately normal with
mean 19.7 pounds and standard deviation 3.1 pounds. A random sample of 5 backpacks will be
selected, and the weight, in pounds, of each backpack will be recorded.
For samples of size 5, which of the following is the best interpretation of P(x¯>22)≈0.05?
20. The distribution of prices for a certain car model is approximately normal with mean $21,800
and standard deviation $400. A random sample of 4 cars of the model will be selected.
What is the correct unit of measure for the mean of the sampling distribution of x¯?

21. A fair die has its faces numbered from 1 to 6. Let random variable F represent the number
landing face up when the die is tossed. The probability distribution for the random variable has
mean 3.5 and standard deviation 1.7078. Consider a simulation with 400 trials designed to
estimate the sampling distribution of the sample mean for 5 tosses of the die. For each trial, the
die is tossed 5 times, and the mean of the 5 values landing face up is recorded.

The mean and standard deviation of the results of the simulation should be close to which of the
following?
22. The mean number of pets owned by the population of students at a large high school is 3.2
pets per student with a standard deviation of 1.7 pets. A random sample of 16 students will be
selected and the mean number of pets for the sample will be calculated.
What is the mean of the sampling distribution of the sample mean for samples of size 16 ?

23. For which of the following is the shape of the sampling distribution of the sample mean
approximately normal?
I. A random sample of size 5 from a population that is approximately normal
II. A random sample of size 10 from a population that is strongly skewed to the right
III. A random sample of size 60 from a population that is strongly skewed to the left
24. The distribution of age for players of a certain professional sport is strongly skewed to the
right with mean 26.8 years and standard deviation 4.2 years. Consider a random sample of 4
players and a different random sample of 50 players from the population.

Which of the following statements is true about the sampling distributions of the sample mean
ages for samples of size 4 and samples of size 50 ?

25. A reading specialist wanted to estimate the mean word length, in number of letters, for an
elementary school history textbook. The specialist took repeated random samples of size 100
words and estimated the mean and standard deviation of the sampling distribution to be 4.9 letters
and 0.15 letter, respectively.
Based on the estimates for the sampling distribution, which of the following provides the best
estimates of the population parameters?
26. At a large corporation, the distribution of years of employment for the employees has mean
20.6 years and standard deviation 5.3 years. A random sample of 100 employees was selected and
surveyed about employee satisfaction. The sample of employees had a mean 20.3 years and
standard deviation 6.1 years.
Remy claims that the mean of the sampling distribution of the sample mean for samples of size
100 is 20.6 years. Is Remy’s claim correct?

Answer Key

1. B 2. A 3. B 4. A 5. B 6. D 7. C 8. B 9. E 10. C

11. D 12. C 13. A 14. D 15. A 16. B 17. C 18. C 19. E 20. A
21. B 22. B 23. D 24. E 25. C 26. E