CAIE S2 2003 June — Question 5

Exam BoardCAIE
ModuleS2 (Statistics 2)
Year2003
SessionJune
TopicHypothesis test of a normal distribution

5 Over a long period of time it is found that the time spent at cash withdrawal points follows a normal distribution with mean 2.1 minutes and standard deviation 0.9 minutes. A new system is tried out, to speed up the procedure. The null hypothesis is that the mean time spent is the same under the new system as previously. It is decided to reject the null hypothesis and accept that the new system is quicker if the mean withdrawal time from a random sample of 20 cash withdrawals is less than 1.7 minutes. Assume that, for the new system, the standard deviation is still 0.9 minutes, and the time spent still follows a normal distribution.
  1. Calculate the probability of a Type I error.
  2. If the mean withdrawal time under the new system is actually 1.5 minutes, calculate the probability of a Type II error.