Unit 15: Hypothesis Testing

Name

Q1
Linda regularly takes a taxi to work five times a week. Over a long period of time she finds the taxi is
late twice a week on average. The taxi firm changes her driver and Linda thinks the taxi is late more
often. In the first two weeks with the new driver the taxi is late 7 times.
You may assume that the number of times the taxi is late in a week can be modelled with a binomial
distribution.
a) Test, at the 10% level of significance, whether or not there is evidence of an increase in the
proportion of times the taxi is late. State your hypotheses clearly.

(6 marks)
b) One of the assumptions when modelling using a binomial distribution is that the probability of
success p, in this case the probability the taxi is late, is constant throughout all the trials. Give two
possible reasons why this assumption may not hold for this situation.

(2 marks)

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 Unit 15: Hypothesis Testing

Q2
A company claims that a fifth of the bolts sent to them are faulty. To test this claim the number of
faulty bolts in a random sample of 60 is recorded.
a) Give two reasons why a binomial distribution may be a suitable model for the number of faulty
bolts in the sample.

(2 marks)
b) Using a 10% significance level with the model of a binomial distribution, find the critical region for
a 2-tail test of the hypothesis that the probability of a bolt being faulty is 0.2.

(4 marks)

Q3

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 Unit 15: Hypothesis Testing

Historical data suggests that 15% of motorists regularly exceed the speed limit on a motorway.
A new law is introduced increasing the penalties for speeding and the police suspect that there has
been a reduction in the number of motorists speeding.
A random sample of 50 motorists is taken.
a) Write down the hypotheses that should be used to test the police’s suspicion.

(1 mark)
b) Find the critical region for the test.
Use a significance level of 5%.

(2 marks)
On a particular day, the police observe that four of the 50 motorists sampled exceeded the speed
limit.
c) Comment on the police’s claim in the light of this observation.

(1 mark)
It was later discovered that all the motorists in the sample were part of the same race club.
d) Comment on the validity of the model used.

(1 mark)

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 Unit 15: Hypothesis Testing

Q4
Brad planted 25 seeds in his greenhouse. He has read in a gardening book that the probability of one
of these seeds germinating is 0.3. Twelve of Brad's seeds germinated. He claimed that the gardening
book had underestimated this probability. Test, at the 5% level of significance, Brad's claim. State
your hypotheses clearly.

(6 marks)

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 Unit 15: Hypothesis Testing

Q5
A single observation x is to be taken from a binomial distribution B ( 3 0 , p ).
This observation is used to test H 0 : p=0. 4 against H 1 : p ≠ 0. 4

a) Under H 0 : X ∼ B ( 3 0 , 0. 4 ), using a 5% level of significance, find the critical region for this test.
You should state the probability of rejection in each tail, which should be less than 2.5%.

(3 marks)
b) State the actual significance level of this test.

(1 mark)
The actual value of x obtained is 4.
c) State a conclusion that can be drawn based on this value, giving a reason for your answer.

(2 marks)

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 Unit 15: Hypothesis Testing

Q6
a) Define the critical region of a test statistic.

(2 marks)
A discrete random variable X has a binomial distribution B ( 45 , p ). A single observation is used to
test H 0 : p=0.1 against H 1 : p >0. 1

b) Under H 0 : X ∼ B ( 45 ,0. 1 ), using a 1% level of significance find the critical region of this test. You
should state, to 2 significant figures, the probability of rejection.

(3 marks)
The value of the observation was found to be 10.
c) Giving a reason, carefully state the outcome of the test.

(2 marks)

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 Unit 15: Hypothesis Testing

Q7
It is known from past records that 1 in 8 bowls produced in a pottery have minor defects. To monitor
production a random sample of 35 bowls was taken and the number of such bowls with defects was
recorded.
a) Using a 5% level of significance, find critical regions for a 2-tail test of the hypothesis that 1 in 5
bowls have minor defects. The probability of rejection, in either tail, should be no more than 2.5%.

(6 marks)
b) State the actual significance level of the above test.

(1 mark)
At a later date, a random sample of 20 bowls was taken and 1 of them was found to have minor
defects.
c) Test, at the 10% level of significance, whether or not there is evidence that the proportion of
bowls with minor defects has decreased. State your hypotheses clearly.

(5 marks)

Overall Mark /50

7
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Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.