5.05c Hypothesis test: normal distribution for population mean

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Edexcel S2 2012 June Q3
9 marks Moderate -0.8
3.
  1. Write down two conditions needed to approximate the binomial distribution by the Poisson distribution. A machine which manufactures bolts is known to produce \(3 \%\) defective bolts. The machine breaks down and a new machine is installed. A random sample of 200 bolts is taken from those produced by the new machine and 12 bolts were defective.
  2. Using a suitable approximation, test at the \(5 \%\) level of significance whether or not the proportion of defective bolts is higher with the new machine than with the old machine. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2013 June Q6
14 marks Standard +0.8
6. Frugal bakery claims that their packs of 10 muffins contain on average 80 raisins per pack. A Poisson distribution is used to describe the number of raisins per muffin. A muffin is selected at random to test whether or not the mean number of raisins per muffin has changed.
  1. Find the critical region for a two-tailed test using a \(10 \%\) level of significance. The probability of rejection in each tail should be less than 0.05
  2. Find the actual significance level of this test. The bakery has a special promotion claiming that their muffins now contain even more raisins. A random sample of 10 muffins is selected and is found to contain a total of 95 raisins.
  3. Use a suitable approximation to test the bakery's claim. You should state your hypotheses clearly and use a \(5 \%\) level of significance.
Edexcel S2 2013 June Q3
13 marks Standard +0.3
An online shop sells a computer game at an average rate of 1 per day.
  1. Find the probability that the shop sells more than 10 games in a 7 day period. Once every 7 days the shop has games delivered before it opens.
  2. Find the least number of games the shop should have in stock immediately after a delivery so that the probability of running out of the game before the next delivery is less than 0.05 In an attempt to increase sales of the computer game, the price is reduced for six months. A random sample of 28 days is taken from these six months. In the sample of 28 days, 36 computer games are sold.
  3. Using a suitable approximation and a \(5 \%\) level of significance, test whether or not the average rate of sales per day has increased during these six months. State your hypotheses clearly.
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 S2 2014 June Q3
13 marks Standard +0.3
A company claims that it receives emails at a mean rate of 2 every 5 minutes.
  1. Give two reasons why a Poisson distribution could be a suitable model for the number of emails received.
  2. Using a \(5 \%\) level of significance, find the critical region for a two-tailed test of the hypothesis that the mean number of emails received in a 10 minute period is 4 . The probability of rejection in each tail should be as close as possible to 0.025
  3. Find the actual level of significance of this test. To test this claim, the number of emails received in a random 10 minute period was recorded. During this period 8 emails were received.
  4. Comment on the company's claim in the light of this value. Justify your answer. During a randomly selected 15 minutes of play in the Wimbledon Men's Tennis Tournament final, 2 emails were received by the company.
  5. Test, at the \(10 \%\) level of significance, whether or not the mean rate of emails received by the company during the Wimbledon Men's Tennis Tournament final is lower than the mean rate received at other times. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2014 June Q5
11 marks Moderate -0.3
5.
  1. State the conditions under which the normal distribution may be used as an approximation to the binomial distribution. A company sells seeds and claims that 55\% of its pea seeds germinate.
  2. Write down a reason why the company should not justify their claim by testing all the pea seeds they produce. To test the company's claim, a random sample of 220 pea seeds was planted.
  3. State the hypotheses for a two-tailed test of the company's claim. Given that 135 of the 220 pea seeds germinated,
  4. use a normal approximation to test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not the company's claim is justified.
Edexcel S2 2016 June Q2
12 marks Moderate -0.3
In a region of the UK, \(5 \%\) of people have red hair. In a random sample of size \(n\), taken from this region, the expected number of people with red hair is 3
  1. Calculate the value of \(n\). A random sample of 20 people is taken from this region. Find the probability that
    1. exactly 4 of these people have red hair,
    2. at least 4 of these people have red hair. Patrick claims that Reddman people have a probability greater than \(5 \%\) of having red hair. In a random sample of 50 Reddman people, 4 of them have red hair.
  2. Stating your hypotheses clearly, test Patrick's claim. Use a \(1 \%\) level of significance.
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Edexcel S2 2016 June Q5
8 marks Standard +0.8
5. In a large school, \(20 \%\) of students own a touch screen laptop. A random sample of \(n\) students is chosen from the school. Using a normal approximation, the probability that more than 55 of these \(n\) students own a touch screen laptop is 0.0401 correct to 3 significant figures. Find the value of \(n\).
(8)
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Edexcel S2 2017 June Q1
9 marks Moderate -0.3
A potter believes that \(20 \%\) of pots break whilst being fired in a kiln. Pots are fired in batches of 25 .
  1. Let \(X\) denote the number of broken pots in a batch. A batch is selected at random. Using a 10\% significance level, find the critical region for a two tailed test of the potter's belief. You should state the probability in each tail of your critical region. The potter aims to reduce the proportion of pots which break in the kiln by increasing the size of the batch fired. He now fires pots in batches of 50 . He then chooses a batch at random and discovers there are 6 pots which broke whilst being fired in the kiln.
  2. Test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is evidence that increasing the number of pots in a batch has reduced the percentage of pots that break whilst being fired in the kiln. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2017 June Q2
13 marks Standard +0.3
A company receives telephone calls at random at a mean rate of 2.5 per hour.
  1. Find the probability that the company receives
    1. at least 4 telephone calls in the next hour,
    2. exactly 3 telephone calls in the next 15 minutes.
  2. Find, to the nearest minute, the maximum length of time the telephone can be left unattended so that the probability of missing a telephone call is less than 0.2 The company puts an advert in the local newspaper. The number of telephone calls received in a randomly selected 2 hour period after the paper is published is 10
  3. Test at the 5\% level of significance whether or not the mean rate of telephone calls has increased. State your hypotheses clearly.
Edexcel S2 2018 June Q5
16 marks Standard +0.3
5. Past records show that the proportion of customers buying organic vegetables from Tesson supermarket is 0.35 During a particular day, a random sample of 40 customers from Tesson supermarket was taken and 18 of them bought organic vegetables.
  1. Test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not this provides evidence that the proportion of customers who bought organic vegetables has increased. State your hypotheses clearly. The manager of Tesson supermarket claims that the proportion of customers buying organic eggs is different from the proportion of those buying organic vegetables. To test this claim the manager decides to take a random sample of 50 customers.
  2. Using a \(5 \%\) level of significance, find the critical region to enable the Tesson supermarket manager to test her claim. The probability for each tail of the region should be as close as possible to \(2.5 \%\) During a particular day, a random sample of 50 customers from Tesson supermarket is taken and 8 of them bought organic eggs.
  3. Using your answer to part (b), state whether or not this sample supports the manager's claim. Use a \(5 \%\) level of significance.
  4. State the actual significance level of this test. The proportion of customers who buy organic fruit from Tesson supermarket is 0.2 During a particular day, a random sample of 200 customers from Tesson supermarket is taken. Using a suitable approximation, the probability that fewer than \(n\) of these customers bought organic fruit is 0.0465 correct to 4 decimal places.
  5. Find the value of \(n\).
Edexcel S3 2021 January Q4
14 marks Standard +0.3
4. The scores in a national test of seven-year-old children are normally distributed with a standard deviation of 18
A random sample of 25 seven-year-old children from town \(A\) had a mean score of 52.4
  1. Calculate a 98\% confidence interval for the mean score of the seven-year-old children from town \(A\).
    (4) An independent random sample of 30 seven-year-old children from town \(B\) had a mean score of 57.8
    A local newspaper claimed that the mean score of seven-year-old children from town \(B\) was greater than the mean score of seven-year-old children from town \(A\).
  2. Stating your hypotheses clearly, use a \(5 \%\) significance level to test the newspaper's claim. You should show your working clearly. The mean score for the national test of seven-year-old children is \(\mu\). Considering the two samples of seven-year-old children separately, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, there is insufficient evidence that the mean score for town \(A\) is less than \(\mu\), and insufficient evidence that the mean score for town \(B\) is less than \(\mu\).
  3. Find the largest possible value for \(\mu\). \includegraphics[max width=\textwidth, alt={}, center]{ba3f3f9c-53d2-4e95-b2f3-3f617f1821ed-11_2255_50_314_34}
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Edexcel S3 2022 January Q2
8 marks Standard +0.3
2. Krishi owns a farm on which he keeps chickens. He selects, at random, 10 of the eggs produced and weighs each of them.
You may assume that these weights are a random sample from a normal distribution with standard deviation 1.9 g The total weight of these 10 eggs is 537.2 g
  1. Find a \(95 \%\) confidence interval for the mean weight of the eggs produced by Krishi's chickens. Krishi was hoping to obtain a \(99 \%\) confidence interval of width at most 1.5 g
  2. Calculate the minimum sample size necessary to achieve this. \includegraphics[max width=\textwidth, alt={}, center]{fc43aabf-ad04-4852-8539-981cef608f31-04_2662_95_107_1962}
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 Q2
8 marks Standard +0.3
  1. Secondary schools in a region conduct ability testing at the start of Year 7 and the start of Year 8. Each year a regional education officer randomly selects 240 Year 7 students and 240 Year 8 students from across the region. The results for last year are summarised in the table below.
\cline { 2 - 3 } \multicolumn{1}{c|}{}Mean scoreVariance of scores
Year 710138
Year 810342
The regional education officer claims that there is no difference between the mean scores of these two year groups.
  1. Test the regional education officer's claim at the \(1 \%\) significance level. You should state your hypotheses, test statistic and critical value clearly.
  2. Explain the significance of the Central Limit Theorem in part (a).
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 2023 January Q5
10 marks Standard +0.3
5 Claire grows strawberries on her farm. She wants to compare two brands of fertiliser, brand \(A\) and brand \(B\). She grows two sets of plants of the same variety of strawberries under the same conditions, fertilising one set with brand \(A\) and the other with brand \(B\). The yields per plant, in grams, from each set of plants are summarised below.
MeanStandard deviationNumber of plants
Fertiliser A137717.850
Fertiliser B136818.440
  1. Stating your hypotheses clearly, carry out a suitable test to assess whether the mean yield from plants using fertiliser \(A\) is greater than the mean yield from plants using fertiliser \(B\).
    Use a 1\% level of significance and state your test statistic and critical value. The total cost of fertiliser \(A\) for Claire's 50 plants was \(\pounds 75\) The total cost of fertiliser \(B\) for Claire's 40 plants was \(\pounds 50\) Claire sells all her strawberries at \(\pounds 3\) per kilogram.
  2. Use this information, together with your answer in part (a), to advise Claire on which of the two brands of fertiliser she should use next year in order to maximise her expected profit per plant, giving a reason for your answer.
Edexcel S3 2024 January Q5
9 marks Standard +0.3
  1. A professor claims that undergraduates studying History have a typing speed of more than 15 words per minute faster than undergraduates studying Maths.
A sample is taken of 38 undergraduates studying History and 45 undergraduates studying Maths. The typing speed, \(x\) words per minute, of each undergraduate is recorded. The results are summarised in the table below.
\(n\)\(\bar { x }\)\(s ^ { 2 }\)
Undergraduates studying History3856.327.2
Undergraduates studying Maths4539.818.5
  1. Use a suitable test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, to investigate the professor's claim.
    State clearly your hypotheses, test statistic and critical value.
  2. State two assumptions you have made in carrying out the test in part (a).
Edexcel S3 2024 January Q6
15 marks Standard +0.3
  1. A random sample of 8 three-month-old golden retriever dogs is taken.
The heights of the golden retrievers are recorded.
Using this sample, a 95\% confidence interval for the mean height, in cm, of three-month-old golden retrievers is found to be \(( 45.72,53.88 )\)
  1. Find a 99\% confidence interval for the mean height. You may assume that the heights are normally distributed with known population standard deviation. Some summary statistics for the weights, \(x \mathrm {~kg}\), of this sample are given below. $$\sum x = 91.2 \quad \sum x ^ { 2 } = 1145.16 \quad n = 8$$
  2. Calculate unbiased estimates of the mean and the variance of the weights of three-month-old golden retrievers. A further random sample of 24 three-month-old golden retrievers is taken. The unbiased estimates of the mean and the variance of the weights, in kg , from this sample are found to be 10.8 and 17.64 respectively.
  3. Estimate the standard error of the mean weight for the combined sample of 32 three-month-old golden retrievers.
Edexcel S3 2014 June Q3
7 marks Standard +0.3
3. A grocer believes that the average weight of a grapefruit from farm \(A\) is greater than the average weight of a grapefruit from farm \(B\). The weights, in grams, of 80 grapefruit selected at random from farm \(A\) have a mean value of 532 g and a standard deviation, \(s _ { A }\), of 35 g . A random sample of 100 grapefruit from farm \(B\) have a mean weight of 520 g and a standard deviation, \(s _ { B }\), of 28 g . Stating your hypotheses clearly and using a 1\% level of significance, test whether or not the grocer's belief is supported by the data.
Edexcel S3 2016 June Q4
8 marks Standard +0.3
4. A random sample of 60 children and a random sample of 50 adults were taken and each person was given the same task to complete. The table below summarises the times taken, \(t\) seconds, to complete the task.
Mean, \(\overline { \boldsymbol { t } }\)Standard deviation, \(\boldsymbol { s }\)\(\boldsymbol { n }\)
Children61.25.960
Adults59.15.250
  1. Stating your hypotheses clearly, test, at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not there is evidence that the mean time taken to complete the task by children is greater than the mean time taken by adults.
    (6)
  2. Explain the relevance of the Central Limit Theorem to your calculation in part (a).
  3. State an assumption you have made to carry out the test in part (a).
Edexcel S3 2017 June Q3
7 marks Moderate -0.3
3. The manager of a gym claimed that the mean age of its customers is 30 years. A random sample of 75 customers is taken and their ages have a mean of 28.2 years and a standard deviation, \(s\), of 8.5 years.
  1. Stating your hypotheses clearly and using a 10\% level of significance, test whether or not the manager's claim is supported by the data.
  2. Explain the relevance of the Central Limit Theorem to your calculation in part (a).
  3. State an additional assumption needed to carry out the test in part (a).
Edexcel S3 2017 June Q5
11 marks Standard +0.3
5. A dance studio has 800 dancers of which \begin{displayquote} 452 are beginners
251 are intermediates
97 are professionals
  1. Explain in detail how a stratified sample of size 50 could be taken.
  2. State an advantage of stratified sampling rather than simple random sampling in this situation. \end{displayquote} Independent random samples of 80 beginners and 60 intermediates are chosen. Each of these dancers is given an assessment score, \(x\), based on the quality of their dancing. The results are summarised in the table below.
    \(\bar { x }\)\(s ^ { 2 }\)\(n\)
    Beginners31.757.380
    Intermediates36.938.160
    The studio manager believes that the mean score of intermediates is more than 3 points greater than the mean score of beginners.
  3. Stating your hypotheses clearly and using a \(5 \%\) level of significance, test whether or not these data support the studio manager's belief.
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 2021 June Q4
16 marks Standard +0.3
A college runs academic and vocational courses. The college has 1680 academic students and 2520 vocational students.
  1. Describe how a stratified sample of 70 students at the college could be taken. All students at the college take a basic skills test. A random sample of 50 academic students has a mean score of 57 and a variance of 60. An independent random sample of 80 vocational students has a mean score of 62 with a variance of 70
  2. Stating your hypotheses clearly, test at the \(5 \%\) level of significance, whether or not the mean basic skills score for vocational students is greater than the mean basic skills score for academic students.
  3. Explain the importance of the Central Limit Theorem to the test in part (b).
  4. State an assumption that is required to carry out the test in part (b). All the academic students at the college take a basic skills course. Another random sample of 50 academic students and another independent random sample of 80 vocational students retake the basic skills test. The hypotheses used in part (b) are then tested again at the same level of significance. The value of the test statistic \(z\) is now 1.54
  5. Comment on the mean basic skills scores of academic and vocational students after taking this course.
  6. Considering the outcomes of the tests in part (b) and part (e), comment on the effectiveness of the basic skills course.