5.05b Unbiased estimates: of population mean and variance

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Edexcel S2 2015 June Q6
15 marks Moderate -0.3
6. Past information at a computer shop shows that \(40 \%\) of customers buy insurance when they purchase a product. In a random sample of 30 customers, \(X\) buy insurance.
  1. Write down a suitable model for the distribution of \(X\).
  2. State an assumption that has been made for the model in part (a) to be suitable. The probability that fewer than \(r\) customers buy insurance is less than 0.05
  3. Find the largest possible value of \(r\). A second random sample, of 100 customers, is taken.
    The probability that at least \(t\) of these customers buy insurance is 0.938 , correct to 3 decimal places.
  4. Using a suitable approximation, find the value of \(t\). The shop now offers an extended warranty on all products. Following this, a random sample of 25 customers is taken and 6 of them buy insurance.
  5. Test, at the \(10 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is evidence that the proportion of customers who buy insurance has decreased. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2018 June Q7
10 marks Standard +0.3
7. A manufacturer produces packets of sweets. Each packet contains 25 sweets. The manufacturer claims that, on average, 40\% of the sweets in each packet are red. A packet is selected at random.
  1. Using a \(1 \%\) level of significance, find the critical region for a two-tailed test that the proportion of red sweets is 0.40 You should state the probability in each tail, which should be as close as possible to 0.005
  2. Find the actual significance level of this test. The manufacturer changes the production process to try to reduce the number of red sweets. She chooses 2 packets at random and finds that 8 of the sweets are red.
  3. Test, at the \(1 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is evidence that the manufacturer's changes to the production process have been successful. State your hypotheses clearly.
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    Q7
Edexcel S2 2021 June Q1
14 marks Standard +0.3
Spany sells seeds and claims that \(5 \%\) of its pansy seeds do not germinate. A packet of pansy seeds contains 20 seeds. Each seed germinates independently of the other seeds.
  1. Find the probability that in a packet of Spany's pansy seeds
    1. more than 2 but fewer than 5 seeds do not germinate,
    2. more than 18 seeds germinate. Jem buys 5 packets of Spany's pansy seeds.
  2. Calculate the probability that all of these packets contain more than 18 seeds that germinate. Jem believes that Spany's claim is incorrect. She believes that the percentage of pansy seeds that do not germinate is greater than 5\%
  3. Write down the hypotheses for a suitable test to examine Jem's belief. Jem planted all of the 100 seeds she bought from Spany and found that 8 did not germinate.
  4. Using a suitable approximation, carry out the test using a \(5 \%\) level of significance.
Edexcel S2 2022 June Q4
9 marks Standard +0.3
  1. Past evidence shows that \(7 \%\) of pears grown by a farmer are unfit for sale.
This season it is believed that the proportion of pears that are unfit for sale has decreased. To test this belief a random sample of \(n\) pears is taken. The random variable \(Y\) represents the number of pears in the sample that are unfit for sale.
  1. Find the smallest value of \(n\) such that \(Y = 0\) lies in the critical region for this test at a \(5 \%\) level of significance. In the past, \(8 \%\) of the pears grown by the farmer weigh more than 180 g . This season the farmer believes the proportion of pears weighing more than 180 g has changed. She takes a random sample of 75 pears and finds that 11 of them weigh more than 180 g .
  2. Test, using a suitable approximation, whether there is evidence of a change in the proportion of pears weighing more than 180 g .
    You should use a \(5 \%\) level of significance and state your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2023 June Q4
13 marks Moderate -0.8
  1. Given \(n\) is large, state a condition for which the binomial distribution \(\mathrm { B } ( n , p )\) can be reasonably approximated by a Poisson distribution. A manufacturer produces candles. Those candles that pass a quality inspection are suitable for sale. It is known that 2\% of the candles produced by the manufacturer are not suitable for sale. A random sample of 125 candles produced by the manufacturer is taken.
  2. Use a suitable approximation to find the probability that no more than 6 of the candles are not suitable for sale. The manufacturer also produces candle holders.
    Charlie believes that 5\% of candle holders produced by the factory have minor defects.
    The manufacturer claims that the true proportion is less than \(5 \%\) To test the manufacturer's claim, a random sample of 30 candle holders is taken and none of them are found to contain minor defects.
    1. Carry out a test of the manufacturer's claim using a \(5 \%\) level of significance. You should state your hypotheses clearly.
    2. Give a reason why this is not an appropriate test. Ashley suggests changing the sample size to 50
  3. Comment on whether or not this change would make the test appropriate. Give a reason for your answer.
Edexcel S2 2024 June Q3
15 marks Moderate -0.8
3 Jian owns a large group of shops. She decides to visit a random sample of the shops to check if the stocktaking system is being used incorrectly.
  1. Suggest a suitable sampling frame for Jian to use.
  2. Identify the sampling units.
  3. Give one advantage and one disadvantage of taking a sample rather than a census. Jian believes that the stocktaking system is being used incorrectly in \(40 \%\) of the shops.
    To investigate her belief, a random sample of 30 of the shops is taken.
  4. Using a 5\% level of significance, find the critical region for a two-tailed test of Jian's belief.
    You should state the probability in each tail, which should each be as close as possible to 2.5\% The total number of shops, in the sample of 30, where the stocktaking system is being used incorrectly is 20
  5. Using the critical region from part (d), state what this suggests about Jian's belief. Give a reason for your answer. Jian introduces a new, simpler, stocktaking system to all the shops.
    She takes a random sample of 150 shops and finds that in 47 of these shops the new stocktaking system is being used incorrectly.
  6. Using a suitable approximation, test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is evidence that the proportion of shops where the stocktaking system is being used incorrectly is now less than 0.4 You should state your hypotheses and show your working clearly.
Edexcel S2 2018 Specimen Q6
13 marks Standard +0.3
6. The Headteacher of a school claims that \(30 \%\) of parents do not support a new curriculum. In a survey of 20 randomly selected parents, the number, \(X\), who do not support the new curriculum is recorded. Assuming that the Headteacher's claim is correct, find
  1. the probability that \(X = 5\)
  2. the mean and the standard deviation of \(X\) The Director of Studies believes that the proportion of parents who do not support the new curriculum is greater than \(30 \%\). Given that in the survey of 20 parents 8 do not support the new curriculum,
  3. test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, the Director of Studies' belief. State your hypotheses clearly. The teachers believe that the sample in the original survey was biased and claim that only \(25 \%\) of the parents are in support of the new curriculum. A second random sample, of size \(2 n\), is taken and exactly half of this sample supports the new curriculum. A test is carried out at a \(10 \%\) level of significance of the teachers' belief using this sample of size \(2 n\) Using the hypotheses \(\mathrm { H } _ { 0 } : p = 0.25\) and \(\mathrm { H } _ { 1 } : p > 0.25\)
  4. find the minimum value of \(n\) for which the outcome of the test is that the teachers' belief is rejected.
Edexcel S2 Specimen Q6
15 marks Standard +0.3
6. A company claims that a quarter of the bolts sent to them are faulty. To test this claim the number of faulty bolts in a random sample of 50 is recorded.
  1. Give two reasons why a binomial distribution may be a suitable model for the number of faulty bolts in the sample.
  2. Using a 5\% significance level, find the critical region for a two-tailed test of the hypothesis that the probability of a bolt being faulty is \(\frac { 1 } { 4 }\). The probability of rejection in either tail should be as close as possible to 0.025
  3. Find the actual significance level of this test. In the sample of 50 the actual number of faulty bolts was 8 .
  4. Comment on the company's claim in the light of this value. Justify your answer. The machine making the bolts was reset and another sample of 50 bolts was taken. Only 5 were found to be faulty.
  5. Test at the \(1 \%\) level of significance whether or not the probability of a faulty bolt has decreased. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2002 January Q6
14 marks Moderate -0.3
6. The owner of a small restaurant decides to change the menu. A trade magazine claims that \(40 \%\) of all diners choose organic foods when eating away from home. On a randomly chosen day there are 20 diners eating in the restaurant.
  1. Assuming the claim made by the trade magazine to be correct, suggest a suitable model to describe the number of diners \(X\) who choose organic foods.
  2. Find \(\mathrm { P } ( 5 < X < 15 )\).
  3. Find the mean and standard deviation of \(X\). The owner decides to survey her customers before finalising the new menu. She surveys 10 randomly chosen diners and finds 8 who prefer eating organic foods.
  4. Test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is reason to believe that the proportion of diners in her restaurant who prefer to eat organic foods is higher than the trade magazine's claim. State your hypotheses clearly.
    (5)
Edexcel S2 2003 January Q2
8 marks Standard +0.8
2. A single observation \(x\) is to be taken from a Poisson distribution with parameter \(\lambda\). This observation is to be used to test \(\mathrm { H } _ { 0 } : \lambda = 7\) against \(\mathrm { H } _ { 1 } : \lambda \neq 7\).
  1. Using a \(5 \%\) significance level, find the critical region for this test assuming that the probability of rejection in either tail is as close as possible to \(2.5 \%\).
  2. Write down the significance level of this test. The actual value of \(x\) obtained was 5 .
  3. State a conclusion that can be drawn based on this value.
Edexcel S2 2007 January Q1
4 marks Easy -1.8
  1. Define a statistic. A random sample \(X _ { 1 } , X _ { 2 } , \ldots , X _ { \mathrm { n } }\) is taken from a population with unknown mean \(\mu\).
  2. For each of the following state whether or not it is a statistic.
    1. \(\frac { X _ { 1 } + X _ { 4 } } { 2 }\),
    2. \(\frac { \sum X ^ { 2 } } { n } - \mu ^ { 2 }\).
Edexcel S2 2009 June Q3
5 marks Moderate -0.8
3. A random sample \(X _ { 1 } , X _ { 2 } , \ldots X _ { n }\) is taken from a population with unknown mean \(\mu\) and unknown variance \(\sigma ^ { 2 }\). A statistic \(Y\) is based on this sample.
  1. Explain what you understand by the statistic \(Y\).
  2. Explain what you understand by the sampling distribution of \(Y\).
  3. State, giving a reason which of the following is not a statistic based on this sample.
    1. \(\sum _ { i = 1 } ^ { n } \frac { \left( X _ { i } - \bar { X } \right) ^ { 2 } } { n }\)
    2. \(\sum _ { i = 1 } ^ { n } \left( \frac { X _ { i } - \mu } { \sigma } \right) ^ { 2 }\)
    3. \(\sum _ { i = 1 } ^ { n } X _ { i } ^ { 2 }\)
Edexcel S2 2009 June Q4
8 marks Standard +0.3
4. Past records suggest that \(30 \%\) of customers who buy baked beans from a large supermarket buy them in single tins. A new manager questions whether or not there has been a change in the proportion of customers who buy baked beans in single tins. A random sample of 20 customers who had bought baked beans was taken.
  1. Using a \(10 \%\) level of significance, find the critical region for a two-tailed test to answer the manager's question. You should state the probability of rejection in each tail which should be less than 0.05 .
  2. Write down the actual significance level of a test based on your critical region from part (a). The manager found that 11 customers from the sample of 20 had bought baked beans in single tins.
  3. Comment on this finding in the light of your critical region found in part (a).
Edexcel S2 2012 June Q2
5 marks Standard +0.3
2. A test statistic has a distribution \(\mathrm { B } ( 25 , p )\). Given that $$\mathrm { H } _ { 0 } : p = 0.5 \quad \mathrm { H } _ { 1 } : p \neq 0.5$$
  1. find the critical region for the test statistic such that the probability in each tail is as close as possible to \(2.5 \%\).
  2. State the probability of incorrectly rejecting \(\mathrm { H } _ { 0 }\) using this critical region.
Edexcel S2 2013 June Q6
10 marks Standard +0.3
6. In a manufacturing process \(25 \%\) of articles are thought to be defective. Articles are produced in batches of 20
  1. A batch is selected at random. Using a \(5 \%\) significance level, find the critical region for a two tailed test that the probability of an article chosen at random being defective is 0.25
    You should state the probability in each tail which should be as close as possible to 0.025 The manufacturer changes the production process to try to reduce the number of defective articles. She then chooses a batch at random and discovers there are 3 defective articles.
  2. Test at the \(5 \%\) level of significance whether or not there is evidence that the changes to the process have reduced the percentage of defective articles. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2014 June Q1
5 marks Moderate -0.3
  1. Before Roger will use a tennis ball he checks it using a "bounce" test. The probability that a ball from Roger's usual supplier fails the bounce test is 0.2 . A new supplier claims that the probability of one of their balls failing the bounce test is less than 0.2 . Roger checks a random sample of 40 balls from the new supplier and finds that 3 balls fail the bounce test.
Stating your hypotheses clearly, use a \(5 \%\) level of significance to test the new supplier's claim.
Edexcel S2 2014 June Q5
13 marks Standard +0.3
Sammy manufactures wallpaper. She knows that defects occur randomly in the manufacturing process at a rate of 1 every 8 metres. Once a week the machinery is cleaned and reset. Sammy then takes a random sample of 40 metres of wallpaper from the next batch produced to test if there has been any change in the rate of defects.
  1. Stating your hypotheses clearly and using a \(10 \%\) level of significance, find the critical region for this test. You should choose your critical region so that the probability of rejection is less than 0.05 in each tail.
  2. State the actual significance level of this test. Thomas claims that his new machine would reduce the rate of defects and invites Sammy to test it. Sammy takes a random sample of 200 metres of wallpaper produced on Thomas' machine and finds 19 defects.
  3. Using a suitable approximation, test Thomas' claim. You should use a \(5 \%\) level of significance and state your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S3 2021 January Q5
18 marks Standard +0.3
5. Chrystal is studying the lengths of pine cones that have fallen from a tree. She believes that the length, \(X \mathrm {~cm}\), of the pine cones can be modelled by a normal distribution with mean 6 cm and standard deviation 0.75 cm . She collects a random sample of 80 pine cones and their lengths are recorded in the table below.
Length, \(x\) cm\(x < 5\)\(5 \leqslant x < 5.5\)\(5.5 \leqslant x < 6\)\(6 \leqslant x < 6.5\)\(x \geqslant 6.5\)
Frequency614242610
  1. Stating your hypotheses clearly and using a \(10 \%\) level of significance, test Chrystal's belief. Show your working clearly and state the expected frequencies, the test statistic and the critical value used.
    (10) Chrystal's friend David asked for more information about the lengths of the 80 pine cones. Chrystal told him that $$\sum x = 464 \quad \text { and } \quad \sum x ^ { 2 } = 2722.59$$
  2. Calculate unbiased estimates of the mean and variance of the lengths of the pine cones. David used the calculations from part (b) to test whether or not the lengths of the pine cones are normally distributed using Chrystal's sample. His test statistic was 3.50 (to 3 significant figures) and he did not pool any classes.
  3. Using a \(10 \%\) level of significance, complete David's test stating the critical value and the degrees of freedom used.
  4. Estimate, to 2 significant figures, the proportion of pine cones from the tree that are longer than 7 cm . \includegraphics[max width=\textwidth, alt={}, center]{ba3f3f9c-53d2-4e95-b2f3-3f617f1821ed-15_2255_50_314_34}
Edexcel S3 2022 January Q5
15 marks Standard +0.3
  1. A dog breeder claims that the mean weight of male Great Dane dogs is 20 kg more than the mean weight of female Great Dane dogs.
Tammy believes that the mean weight of male Great Dane dogs is more than 20 kg more than the mean weight of female Great Dane dogs. She takes random samples of 50 male and 50 female Great Dane dogs and records their weights. The results are summarised below, where \(x\) denotes the weight, in kg , of a male Great Dane dog and \(y\) denotes the weight, in kg, of a female Great Dane dog. $$\sum x = 3610 \quad \sum x ^ { 2 } = 260955.6 \quad \sum y = 2585 \quad \sum y ^ { 2 } = 133757.2$$
  1. Find unbiased estimates for the mean and variance of the weights of
    1. the male Great Dane dogs,
    2. the female Great Dane dogs.
  2. Stating your hypotheses clearly, carry out a suitable test to assess Tammy's belief. Use a \(5 \%\) level of significance and state your critical value.
  3. For the test in part (b), state whether or not it is necessary to assume that the weights of the Great Dane dogs are normally distributed. Give a reason for your answer.
  4. State an assumption you have made in carrying out the test in part (b).
Edexcel S3 2022 January Q1
10 marks Moderate -0.3
  1. The weights, \(x \mathrm {~kg}\), of each of 10 watermelons selected at random from Priya's shop were recorded. The results are summarised as follows
$$\sum x = 114.2 \quad \sum x ^ { 2 } = 1310.464$$
  1. Calculate unbiased estimates of the mean and the variance of the weights of the watermelons in Priya's shop. Priya researches the weight of watermelons, for the variety she has in her shop, and discovers that the weights of these watermelons are normally distributed with a standard deviation of 0.8 kg
  2. Calculate a \(95 \%\) confidence interval for the mean weight of watermelons in Priya's shop. Give the limits of your confidence interval to 2 decimal places. Priya claims that the confidence interval in part (b) suggests that nearly all of the watermelons in her shop weigh more than 10.5 kg
  3. Use your answer to part (b) to estimate the smallest proportion of watermelons in her shop that weigh less than 10.5 kg
Edexcel S3 2023 January Q1
12 marks Standard +0.3
1 A machine fills bottles with mineral water.
The machine is checked every day to ensure that it is working correctly. On a particular day a random sample of 100 bottles is taken. The volume of water, \(x\) millilitres, for each bottle is measured and each measurement is coded using $$y = x - 1000$$ The results are summarised below $$\sum y = 847 \quad \sum y ^ { 2 } = 13510.09$$
    1. Show that the value of the unbiased estimate of the mean of \(x\) is 1008.47
    2. Calculate the unbiased estimate of the variance of \(x\) The machine was initially set so that the volume of water in a bottle had a mean value of 1010 millilitres. Later, a test at the \(5 \%\) significance level is used to determine whether or not the mean volume of water in a bottle has changed. If it has changed then the machine is stopped and reset.
  1. Write down suitable null and alternative hypotheses for a 2-tailed test.
  2. Find the critical region for \(\bar { X }\) in the above test.
  3. Using your answer to part (a) and your critical region found in part (c), comment on whether or not the machine needs to be stopped and reset.
    Give a reason for your answer.
  4. Explain why the use of \(\sigma ^ { 2 } = s ^ { 2 }\) is reasonable in this situation.
Edexcel S3 2014 June Q2
7 marks Standard +0.3
2. The random variable \(X\) follows a continuous uniform distribution over the interval \([ \alpha - 3,2 \alpha + 3 ]\) where \(\alpha\) is a constant.
The mean of a random sample of size \(n\) is denoted by \(\bar { X }\)
  1. Show that \(\bar { X }\) is a biased estimator of \(\alpha\), and state the bias. Given that \(Y = k \bar { X }\) is an unbiased estimator for \(\alpha\)
  2. find the value of \(k\). A random sample of 10 values of \(X\) is taken and the results are as follows $$\begin{array} { l l l l l l l l l l } 3 & 5 & 8 & 12 & 4 & 13 & 10 & 8 & 5 & 12 \end{array}$$
  3. Hence estimate the maximum value of \(X\)
Edexcel S3 2016 June Q7
9 marks Moderate -0.3
7. A random sample of 8 apples is taken from an orchard and the weight, in grams, of each apple is measured. The results are given below. $$\begin{array} { l l l l l l l l } 143 & 131 & 165 & 122 & 137 & 155 & 148 & 151 \end{array}$$
  1. Calculate unbiased estimates for the mean and the variance of the weights of apples. A population has an unknown mean \(\mu\) and an unknown variance \(\sigma ^ { 2 }\) A random sample represented by \(X _ { 1 } , X _ { 2 } , X _ { 3 } , \ldots , X _ { 8 }\) is taken from this population.
  2. Explain why \(\sum _ { i = 1 } ^ { 8 } \left( X _ { i } - \mu \right) ^ { 2 }\) is not a statistic. Given that \(\mathrm { E } \left( S ^ { 2 } \right) = \sigma ^ { 2 }\), where \(S ^ { 2 }\) is an unbiased estimator of \(\sigma ^ { 2 }\) and the statistic $$Y = \frac { 1 } { 8 } \left( \sum _ { i = 1 } ^ { 8 } X _ { i } ^ { 2 } - 8 \bar { X } ^ { 2 } \right)$$
  3. find \(\mathrm { E } ( Y )\) in terms of \(\sigma ^ { 2 }\)
  4. Hence find the bias, in terms of \(\sigma ^ { 2 }\), when \(Y\) is used as an estimator of \(\sigma ^ { 2 }\)
Edexcel S3 2018 June Q3
13 marks Standard +0.3
3. Star Farm produces duck eggs. Xander takes a random sample of 20 duck eggs from Star Farm and their widths, \(x \mathrm {~cm}\), are recorded. Xander's results are summarised as follows. $$\sum x = 92.0 \quad \sum x ^ { 2 } = 433.4974$$
  1. Calculate unbiased estimates of the mean and the variance of the width of duck eggs produced by Star Farm. Yinka takes an independent random sample of 30 duck eggs from Star Farm and their widths, \(y \mathrm {~cm}\), are recorded. Yinka's results are summarised as follows. $$\sum y = 142.5 \quad \sum y ^ { 2 } = 689.5078$$
  2. Treating the combined sample of 50 duck eggs as a single sample, estimate the standard error of the mean.
    (5) Research shows that the population of duck egg widths is normally distributed with standard deviation 0.71 cm . The farmer claims that the mean width of duck eggs produced by Star Farm is greater than 4.5 cm .
  3. Using your combined mean, test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, the farmer's claim. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S3 2022 June Q2
11 marks Standard +0.3
  1. An experiment is conducted to compare the heat retention of two brands of flasks, brand \(A\) and brand \(B\). Both brands of flask have a capacity of 750 ml .
In the experiment 750 ml of boiling water is poured into the flask, which is then sealed. Four hours later the temperature, in \({ } ^ { \circ } \mathrm { C }\), of the water in the flask is recorded. A random sample of 100 flasks from brand \(A\) gives the following summary statistics, where \(x\) is the temperature of the water in the flask after four hours. $$\sum x = 7690 \quad \sum ( x - \bar { x } ) ^ { 2 } = 669.24$$
  1. Find unbiased estimates for the mean and variance of the temperature of the water, after four hours, for brand \(A\). A random sample of 80 flasks from brand \(B\) gives the following results, where \(y\) is the temperature of the water in the flask after four hours. $$\bar { y } = 75.9 \quad s _ { y } = 2.2$$
  2. Test, at the \(1 \%\) significance level, whether there is a difference in the mean water temperature after four hours between brand \(A\) and brand \(B\). You should state your hypotheses, test statistic and critical value clearly.
  3. Explain why it is reasonable to assume that \(\sigma ^ { 2 } = s ^ { 2 }\) in this situation.