Can a person train to become better at holding their breath? An experiment was designed to find out. Twelve volunteers were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups. The 6 volunteers assigned to group 1 were given breath-holding exercises to perform for 2 weeks. The other group was not given any information about the experiment. At the end of the 2 weeks, all 12 volunteers were individually tested to determine how long they could hold their breath. Here are the data (in seconds).Group 1: 90, 88, 70, 110, 75, 105Group 2: 40, 48, 35, 50, 55, 62
A real-estate agent conducted an experiment to test the effect of selling a staged home vs. selling an empty home. To do so, the agent obtained a list of 10 comparable homes just listed for sale that were currently empty. He randomly assigned 5 of the homes to be "staged,” meaning they were filled with nice furniture and decorated. The owners of the 5 homes all agreed to have their homes staged by professional decorators. The other 5 homes remained empty. The hypothesis is that empty homes are not as appealing to buyers as staged homes and, therefore, sell for lower prices than staged homes. The mean selling price of the 5 empty homes was $150,000 with a standard deviation of $22,000. The mean selling price of the 5 staged homes was $175,000 with a standard deviation of 35,000. A dotplot of each sample shows no strong skewness and no outliers.
A high school senior wonders if being blindfolded affects a person’s typing accuracy. He randomly selects 17 students from his large school. For one of the treatments, the senior reads a statement to each student and asks them to type it while wearing a blindfold. For the other treatment, the student is asked to type a similar statement without wearing a blindfold. The order of treatments is determined with the flip of a coin. The mean difference (blindfolded – not blindfolded) in the number of correct words is 6.12 words with a standard deviation of 5.98 words.
A teacher has two large containers, A and B, filled with blue, red, and green beads. She wants her students to estimate the difference (A – B) in the proportion of red beads in each container.What is the appropriate inference procedure?




A local athletic facility offers a four-week training course, hoping to increase athletes’ running speeds. Thirty-five volunteer athletes are timed, in seconds, running a 50-yard dash before the training program begins and then again after the program is complete. The difference in running times (before training – after training) is calculated for each athlete. What are the hypotheses the facility should use?




From previous experience, the owner of an apple orchard knows that the mean weight of gala apples is 140 grams. This year there has been more precipitation than usual and the owner believes the weights of the apples will be heavier than usual. The owner takes a random sample of 30 apples and records their weights.What is the appropriate inference procedure?



From previous experience, the owner of an apple orchard knows that the mean weight of Gala apples is 140 grams. There has been more precipitation than usual this year. The owner believes the weights of the apples will be heavier than usual and therefore the crop will be more profitable. This will allow the owner to expand the orchard. The owner takes a random sample of 30 apples and records their mean weight. What is the consequence of a Type I error in this situation?
A company that makes robotic vacuums claims that their newest model of vacuum lasts, on average, two hours when starting on a full charge. To investigate this claim, a consumer group purchases a random sample of five vacuums of this model. They charge each unit fully and then measure the amount of time each unit runs. Here are the data (in hours): 2.2, 1.85, 2.15, 1.95, and 1.90. They would like to know if the data provide convincing evidence that the true mean run time differs from two hours. The consumer group plans to test the hypotheses H0: μ = 2 versus Ha: μ ≠ 2, where μ = the true mean run time for all vacuums of this model. Are the conditions for inference met?
On the SAT exam, a total of 25 minutes is allotted for students to answer 20 math questions without the use of a calculator. A guidance counselor would like to know if the students in his school are prepared to complete this portion of the exam in the time allotted. To investigate, the counselor selects a random sample of 35 students and administers this portion of the test. The students are instructed to turn in their test as soon as they have completed the questions. The mean amount of time taken by the students is 23.5 minutes with a standard deviation of 4.8 minutes. The counselor would like to know if the data provide convincing evidence that the true mean amount of time needed for all students of this school to complete this portion of the test is less than 25 minutes and therefore tests the hypotheses H0: μ = 25 versus Ha: μ < 25, where μ = the true mean amount of time needed for students of this school to complete this portion of the exam. The conditions for inference are met. The test statistic is t = –1.85 and the P-value is between 0.025 and 0.05. What conclusion should be made at the significance level, ?

A refrigeration unit at a restaurant is supposed to be kept at 40°F. An inspector would like to test the hypotheses = 40 versus 40 where μ = the true mean temperature for all times of the day. A 98% confidence interval based upon a random sample of 40 temperatures is 40.5 degrees to 42.1 degrees. Using the interval, what decision should be made?





A personal trainer determines that an individual will get the most benefit from a workout if they keep their heart rate at an average of 150 beats per minute during workouts. To determine if the individual is doing so successfully, a random sample of 30 workouts is selected from their fitness watch. A 95% confidence interval for these workouts reveals that the true mean heart rate while working out is between 158 and 167 beats per minute. Based upon this interval, what conclusion should be made about the hypotheses: = 150 versus 150 where μ = this individual’s true mean heart rate during working out at α = 0.05?

On the SAT exam, a total of 25 minutes is allotted for students to answer 20 math questions without the use of a calculator. A guidance counselor would like to know if the students in his school are prepared to complete this portion of the exam in the time allotted. To investigate, the counselor selects a random sample of 35 students and administers this portion of the test. The students are instructed to turn in their test as soon as they have completed the questions. The mean amount of time taken by the students is 23.5 minutes with a standard deviation of 4.8 minutes. The counselor would like to know if the data provide convincing evidence that the true mean amount of time needed for all students of this school to complete this portion of the test is less than 25 minutes. What are the appropriate hypotheses?
A local athletic facility offers a four-week training course, hoping to increase athletes’ running speeds. Thirty-five volunteer athletes are timed, in seconds, running a 50-yard dash before the training program begins and then again after the program is complete. The difference in running times (before training – after training) is calculated for each athlete. Are the conditions for inference met?
From previous experience, the owner of an apple orchard knows that the mean weight of Gala apples is 140 grams. There has been more precipitation than usual this year. The owner believes the weights of the apples will be heavier than usual and therefore the crop will be more profitable. The owner takes a random sample of 30 apples and records their mean weight. What is a Type II error in this situation?
A real-estate agent conducted an experiment to test the effect of selling a staged home vs. selling an empty home. To do so, the agent obtained a list of 10 comparable homes just listed for sale that were currently empty. He randomly assigned 5 of the homes to be "staged,” meaning filled with nice furniture and decorated. The owners of the 5 homes all agreed to have their homes staged by professional decorators. The other 5 homes remained empty. The hypothesis is that empty homes are not as appealing to buyers as staged homes and, therefore, sell for lower prices than staged homes. The mean selling price of the 5 empty homes was $150,000 with a standard deviation of $22,000. The mean selling price of the five staged homes was $175,000 with a standard deviation of 35,000. A dotplot of each sample shows no strong skewness and no outliers.
A real-estate agent conducted an experiment to test the effect of selling a staged home vs. selling an empty home. To do so, the agent obtained a list of 10 comparable homes just listed for sale that were currently empty. He randomly assigned 5 of the homes to be "staged,” meaning they were filled with nice furniture and decorated. The owners of the 5 homes all agreed to have their homes staged by professional decorators. The other 5 homes remained empty. The hypothesis is that empty homes are not as appealing to buyers as staged homes and, therefore, sell for lower prices than staged homes. The mean selling price of the 5 empty homes was $150,000 with a standard deviation of $22,000. The mean selling price of the 5 staged homes was $175,000 with a standard deviation of 35,000. A dotplot of each sample shows no strong skewness and no outliers.
A shoe company wants to determine if the new tread on its top line of running shoes lasts longer than the original tread. The company recruits 50 runners for a study. Each runner will perform their typical workout wearing one shoe with the original tread on one foot and another shoe with the new tread on the other foot. The foot that wears the new type of tread will be decided by flipping a coin. After one month, the runner will wear the new type of tread on the opposite foot. At the end of the second month, the difference in tread wear (New – Original) will be calculated. The company will then estimate the mean difference in the treads.




On average, a person’s body temperature should be approximately 98.6°F. A doctor would like to test the hypotheses = 98.6 versus 98.6 where μ = the true mean body temperature of all adults. Before conducting the test, the doctor determines that the power of the test to reject the null hypothesis when μ = 98 using α = 0.01 and n = 10 is 0.2474. What combination of sample size and significance level would increase the power of this test the most?





The distribution of professional baseball player salaries has a mean of $3.2 million. An analyst believes that the mean salary for teams on the East Coast is different. The analyst randomly selects 50 baseball players from teams on the East Coast and records their annual salaries. The mean salary for the players in the sample is $3.9 million with a standard deviation of $2.1 million. A significance test at an alpha level of produces a P-value of 0.02. What is the correct interpretation of the P-value?

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