Lebanese American University
Adnan Kassar School of Business
QBA 201 – Managerial Statistics
Topic 8: Sampling Distributions
Solved Problems
1
Problem 9.15
The heights of North American women are normally distributed with a mean of 64 inches and a standard
deviation of 2 inches.
a. What is the probability that a randomly selected woman is taller than 66 inches?
Let X = height of North American women
X ~ N(64, 2)
66−64
P(X > 66) = 1 - P(X ≤ 66) = 1 – 𝑃 𝑍 ≤ = 1 − 𝑃 𝑍 ≤ 1 = 1 − 0.8413 = 0.1587
2
b. A random sample of four women is selected. What is the probability that the sample mean height is
greater than 66 inches?
Sample size, n = 4
2
Problem 9.15 (Cont’d)
The heights of North American women are normally distributed with a mean of 64 inches and a standard
deviation of 2 inches.
c. What is the probability that the mean height of a random sample of 100 women is greater than 66
inches?
Sample size, n = 100
3
Problem 9.17
An automatic machine in a manufacturing process is operating properly if the lengths of an important
subcomponent are normally distributed with mean = 117 cm and standard deviation = 5.2 cm.
a. Find the probability that one selected subcomponent is longer than 120 cm.
Let X = component length
X ~ N(117, 5.2)
120−117
P(X > 120) = 1 - P(X ≤ 120) = 1 – 𝑃 𝑍 ≤ = 1 − 𝑃 𝑍 ≤ 0.58 = 1 − 0.719 = 0.281
5.2
b. Find the probability that if four subcomponents are randomly selected, their mean length exceeds 120
cm.
Sample size, n = 4
4
Problem 9.17 (Cont’d)
An automatic machine in a manufacturing process is operating properly if the lengths of an important
subcomponent are normally distributed with mean = 117 cm and standard deviation = 5.2 cm.
c. Find the probability that if four subcomponents are randomly selected, all four have lengths that
exceed 120 cm.
This question can be tricky!
When you read that four components are selected, you will jump to the conclusion that the question is
about the sample mean
Read the question carefully!!
The question is about the length of each component, not their mean
We found in part (a) that P(X > 120) = 0.281
The probability that all four components have a length > 120 =
P(X1 > 120) x P(X2 > 120) x P(X3 > 120) x P(X4 > 120) = 0.281 x 0.281 x 0.281 x 0.281 = 0.00623
5
Problem 9.19
The number of pizzas consumed per month by university students is normally distributed with a mean of 10
and a standard deviation of 3.
a. What proportion of students consume more than 12 pizzas per month?
Let X = number of pizzas consumed per month by university students
X ~ N(10, 3)
12−10
P(X > 12) = 1 - P(X ≤ 12) = 1 – 𝑃 𝑍 ≤ = 1 − 𝑃 𝑍 ≤ 0.67 = 1 − 0.7486 = 0.2514
3
b. What is the probability that in a random sample of 25 students more than 275 pizzas are consumed? (Hint:
What is the mean number of pizzas consumed by the sample of 25 students?)
The 275 pizzas are the total number consumed by the 25 students
Since these 25 students are a sample of the population, we convert this total into a mean in order to be able to
answer the question
6
Problem 9.31
The probability of success on any trial of a binomial experiment is 25%.
a. Find the probability that the proportion of successes in a sample of 500 is less than 22%
This probability of success is the p of the population
Sample size n = 500
7
Problem 9.31 (Cont’d)
The probability of success on any trial of a binomial experiment is 25%.
b. Repeat part (a) with n = 800.
Sample size n = 800
8
Problem 9.51
A factory’s worker productivity is normally distributed. One worker produces an average of 75 units per day
with a standard deviation of 20. Another worker produces at an average rate of 65 per day with a standard
deviation of 21. What is the probability that during one week (5 working days), worker 1 will outproduce
worker 2?
In this problem, the daily productivity of each worker is a population
For worker 1: μ1 = 75 units and σ1 = 20 units; X1 ~ N(75, 20)
For worker 2: μ2 = 65 units and σ2 = 21 units; X2 ~ N(65, 21)
The productivity in one week is a sample drawn from each population with n = 5