GEN1008 / GED1008 Introduction to Statistics

Mid-term Test (Sample Questions & Suggested Solution)

Note: Students taking the test have different versions with similar level of difficulty
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Question 1
The IQ of students has a mean 105.7 and a standard deviation 11.1. Suppose a research is conducted on
students with IQ lying at the bottom 1.7% of the population. What should be the IQ below which students
will be selected? Correct your answer to 1 decimal place. Assume the IQ of students follows the normal
distribution.

Solution
Let x be the IQ below which students will be selected.

P ( X < x )=0.017 P Z <( x−105.7

11.1
=0.03)x−105.7
11.1
=−2.12 x=82.2

Question 2
The scores of students in an aptitude test is examined. The population mean is 98.0 and the population
standard deviation is 20.1. Find the standard error of the distribution of sample means if a sample of 40
numbers is selected from the population. Correct your answer to 2 decimal places.

Solution
The standard error is
σ 20.1
= =3.18
√ n √ 40

Question 3
It is reported that for adults, the population mean water consumption per day is 3.7 litres. The population
standard deviation is 0.91. If a sample of 40 adults is chosen, find the probability that the sample mean
water consumption is greater than 4 litres per day. Correct your answer to 4 decimal places.

Solution

(
P ( X > 4 ) =P Z >
4−3.7
0.91/ √ 40 )
¿ P ( Z >2.09 ) ¿ 1−0.9817=0.0183

Question 4
You wish to conduct a research to find the proportion of students who use tablet computers during their
classroom lessons. If the difference between the sample proportion and the population proportion is at
most 4.2%, find the sample size needed for a 95% confidence interval.

Solution
The required sample size

( ) ( )
2 2
z 1.96
n= ^p (1− ^p ) =0.5 (1−0.5 ) =544.44=545
E 0.042

Question 5
Consider a sampling distribution of sample means with a standard error of 8.18. The sample with size 40
is selected from a population with mean 51.6. Find the z-score when the sample mean value is 40. Correct
your answer to 2 decimal places.

Solution
The z-score is
40−51.6
z= =−1.42
8.18

Question 6
Given a dataset with 50 values. The smallest value is 15 and the largest value is 74. A grouped frequency
distribution with 6 classes is obtained. Which of the following statements is/ are correct?
(i) The range of values in the dataset is 59.
(ii) Suppose the lower limit of the first class has to be 15, the first class limit is 15 to 24.
(iii) The median lies in the 3rd class of the data distribution.

A. (ii) & (iii) only

B. (i) & (iii) only
C. (i) only
D. (i) & (ii) only

Solution
Option D.
(i) is correct. The range is 74 – 15 = 59.
(ii) is correct. The class interval is (74 – 15)/6 = 9.83 = 10. The upper limit is 15 + 10 – 1 = 24.
(iii) is incorrect. It is unknown whether the median is in the 3rd class of the distribution,

Question 7
Find the sample standard deviation of the following values. Correct your answer to 2 decimal places.
4.5, 5.8, 6.6, 7.4, 8.2, 8.7

Solution
By using Excel function =STDEV.S(), the answer is 1.56.

Question 8
There are 20 values in a dataset. The mean is 9.5 and the standard deviation is 1.4. If the smallest value is
reduced by 2 units, which of the following statements is/ are true?
(i) The mean is smaller by 0.1 units.
(ii) The median remains unchanged.
(iii) The coefficient of variation will be larger.

A. (ii) only
B. (i) & (iii) only
C. (i) & (ii) only
D. (i), (ii) & (iii)

Solution
Option D.
(i) is correct. If the smallest value is reduced by 2 units, the sum of values is also reduced by 2 units. The
mean is then reduced by 2/20 = 0.1 units.
(ii) is correct. The median is not affected when the smallest value is reduced.
(iii) is correct. The mean is smaller and the standard deviation is larger. The coefficient of variation will
also be larger.

Question 9
Which of the following statements about the distribution of sample means is/ are true when the size of the
sample is 40?
(i) 50% of the sample mean values are larger than the population mean.
(ii) The distribution of sample mean can be standardized to the standard normal distribution
x −μ
using the formula z= .
σ /√ n
(iii) The standard error is smaller than the population standard deviation.

A. (i) & (iii) only

B. (i), (ii) & (iii)
C. (ii) & (iii) only
D. (i) only

Solution
Option B.

(i) is correct. This is because P ( X > μ ) =0.5 .

(ii) is correct due to the Central Limit Theorem.

(iii) is correct. The standard error is σ / √ n , which is smaller than σ when n=40 .

Question 10
Consider a dataset with time spent on studying by teenagers per day. The mean is 38.9 minutes and the
standard deviation of the values is 5.07 minutes. You are told that the minimum proportion of values from
x1 to x2 is 88.2%. Suppose x1 and x2 have equal distance to the mean. Find the value of x 2. Correct your
answer to 1 decimal place.

Solution
1
By the Chebyshev’s Theorem, there should be 1− 2
=0.882 of values falling within k standard
k
deviations of the mean. The value of k is 2.91. Therefore, x 2=38.9+2.91 ( 5.07 ) =53.7.
Question 11
A study is performed to estimate the proportion of adults who feel anxious after removing the mask in the
post-pandemic period. The lower limit of the 95% confidence interval is 0.22 and the margin of error is
13%. Which of the following statements is/ are true?
(i) It is reasonable to conclude that the population proportion is higher than 30% since the upper
limit of the confidence interval is higher than 0.3.
(ii) It is reasonable to conclude that the population proportion is less than 50% since the upper
limit of the confidence interval is less than 0.5.
(iii) The sample proportion being used is 35%.

A. (i), (ii) & (iii)

B. (i) & (ii) only
C. (ii) & (iii) only
D. (iii) only

Solution
Option C.
(i) is incorrect. Since the lower limit of the interval is 0.22. The interval still contains values that are less
than 0.3. So, it is not reasonable to conclude that the population proportion is higher than 30%.
(ii) is correct. Since the lower limit is 0.22 and the margin of error is 0.13, the upper limit is 0.22 +
2(0.13) = 0.48. Since the upper limit of the interval is less than 0.5, it is reasonable to conclude that the
population proportion is less than 50%.
(iii) is correct. Since the lower limit is 0.22 and the margin of error is 0.13, the sample proportion is 0.22
+ 0.13 = 0.35.
Question 12
Report shows that the mean sleeping hours of teenagers per day is 7.8. Suppose you obtained a sample of
40 teenagers and the sample mean sleeping hours is 8.3. It was also found that the probability of obtaining
such sample with mean of at least 8.3 is 0.0022. Which of the following statements is/ are true?
(i) The population mean sleeping hours should be 8.3.
(ii) Consider a larger sample. The probability of obtaining a sample with sample mean of at least
8.3 should be smaller.
(iii) Since the probability of obtaining a sample with mean at least 8.3 is small, the population
mean sleeping hours should be higher than 7.8.

A. (i) and (iii) only

B. (ii) & (iii) only
C. (ii) only
D. (i), (ii) & (iii)

Solution
Option B.
(i) is incorrect. The population mean does not equal to the sample mean due to sampling error.
(ii) is correct. If the sample size is larger, the z-score will be more positive and the probability will be
larger.
(iii) is correct. Instead of being lucky, it is more probable that the population mean is higher than 7.8.
Question 13
A research is conducted to collect health-related data of patients. The following table shows the data
collected with a sample of 3 records.

Time spent on Sleeping Time Body

Gender Stress Level Sleep Quality exercise per per day (in Temperature
week (in mins) hours) (in C)
M Low Good 20 7.8 37.2
F High Moderate 15 8.5 38.1
M Low Good 40 8.0 36.9

What are the levels of measurement of the variable (i) Sleep Quality, and (ii) Time spent on exercise per
week?
A. (i) nominal ; (ii) ratio
B. (i) ordinal ; (ii) interval
C. (i) ordinal ; (ii) ratio
D. (i) nominal ; (ii) interval

Solution
Option C.
Sleep quality is measured at ordinal level and the time spent is measured at ratio level.
Question 14
A sample of 50 adults is chosen and the 95% confidence interval of the mean time they spent on mobile
phone per day (in minutes) is obtained. The confidence interval is [170, 230], which is obtained using a
given population standard deviation. Which of the following statements is/ are correct?
(i) The sample mean time is 200 minutes.
(ii) The standard error is 15.31 minutes.
(iii) Using the same sample, a 99% confidence interval is narrower.

A. (i) only
B. (i) & (ii) only
C. (i), (ii) & (iii)
D. (ii) & (iii) only

Solution
Option B.
(i) is correct. The sample mean is (170 + 230)/2 = 200 minutes.
(ii) is correct. The margin of error is 30. The standard error is 30/1.96 = 15.31 minutes.
(iii) is incorrect. Using the same sample, a 99% confidence interval should be wider.

Question 15
Given a dataset with 32 values. The sample standard deviation is 9.23 and the coefficient of variation is
20.0%. Find the mean of the values in the sample. Correct your answer to 1 decimal place.

Solution
Since the coefficient of variation is 0.2, the sample mean is 9.23/0.2 = 46.2.
Question 16
For a sample of 41 values, the mean is 13.5. You are given that the sum of squares of the values is 13223.
Find the sample standard deviation. Correct your answer to 2 decimal places.

Solution
The sample variance is

n ∑ X −( ∑ X ) 41(13223)−( 13.5 × 41 )2
2 2
2
s= = =143.76875
n(n−1) 41(41−1)
The sample standard deviation is

s= √ 143.76875=11.99

Question 17
It is found that the weight of infants is normally distributed. In the population, the mean is 3.23 kg and the
standard deviation is 0.92 kg. What is the probability that a randomly selected infant has weight less than
2.71 kg? Express your answer as a decimal number and correct it to 4 decimal places.

Solution

P ( X <11 )=P Z< ( 2.71−3.23

0.92 )¿ P(Z ←0.57)¿ 0.2843

Question 18
You wish to determine the confidence interval of the mean time students spend on reading in a week.
From a sample of 25 students, the standard deviation is 14.2. What is the width of the confidence interval
if the chosen confidence level is 99%? Correct your answer to 2 decimal places. Assume the time follows
the normal distribution.

Solution
The confidence interval width is

2 ×t
( )
s
√n
=2 ×2.797
14.2
√25 ( )
=15.89
Question 19
Given P(1.09 < Z < z) = 0.114. Find the value of z.

Solution

P ( 1.09<Z < z )=0.114P ( Z < z )−P ( Z< 1.09 )=0.114 P ( Z < z )=0.114+ 0.8621P ( Z < z )=0.9761
z=1.98

Question 20
There is a study on the grip power of adults. Data are collected from 19 adults and the sum of values
obtained is 719 kg. You are given that the population standard deviation is 3.11 kg. Find the lower limit
of the 96% confidence interval of the mean. Correct your answer to 2 decimal places.

Solution
At the 96% confidence interval, z = 2.05. The lower limit of the confidence interval is

x−z
( √σn )= 719
19
−2.05
( √ 19 )
3.11
=36.38

Question 21
A research is performed to test a hypothesis that on average, adults spend more than 80 minutes in
watching TV per day. A sample with sample mean 82 is obtained. Which of the following statements is/
are correct?

(i) The alternative hypothesis is H 1 : μ >82.

(ii) This is a right-tailed test.
(iii) Since the sample mean is 82, the population mean should be higher than 80.

A. (ii) & (iii) only

B. (i) & (iii) only
C. (ii) only
D. (i) & (ii) only

Solution
Option C.

(i) is incorrect. The alternative hypothesis is H 1 : μ >80.

(ii) is correct. Since the H 1 has a > sign, it is a right-tailed test.

(iii) is incorrect. It is unknown whether the sample mean is in the critical region or not.
Question 22
Which of the following statements about the Student's t distribution is/ are true?
(i) The Student's t distribution has the same mean, median and mode.
(ii) The variance of the Student's t distribution is larger than 1.
(iii) When the degree of freedom is extremely large, 95% of t-values fall between -1.96 and 1.96.

A. (i) & (iii) only

B. (ii) only
C. (i) & (ii) only
D. (i), (ii) & (iii)

Solution
Option D.
(i) is correct.
(ii) is correct.
(iii) is correct, since when the degree of freedom is large, the t-distribution is close to the standard normal
distribution. There are 95% of values falling between -1.96 and 1.96.

Question 23
A pilot study is performed to find the 90% confidence interval of the mean and the result is [6.8, 11.2].
You wish to conduct a larger scale study. The width of the required confidence interval is half of that in
the pilot study and a 95% confidence interval is desired. Assume the population standard deviation is 6,
find the sample size needed in your research.

Solution
The width of the required confidence interval is (11.2 – 6.8)/2 = 2.2. The margin of error is 1.1.
The required sample size is

( ) ( )
2 2
z×σ 1.96 ×6
n= = =114.296=115 ( round up )
E 1.1
Question 24
Which of the following statements about data distribution is/ are correct?
(i) A positively-skewed distribution has a tail extending to the right.
(ii) A bimodal distribution has a larger standard deviation than a normal distribution.
(iii) If there are outliers in a distribution, the distribution has a larger mean than the median.

A. (ii) & (iii) only

B. (i) & (ii) only
C. (i) only
D. (i) & (iii) only

Solution
Option C.
(i) is correct.
(ii) is incorrect. The distribution shape has no implications on the dispersion of the distribution.
(iii) is incorrect. If the outliers are extremely small values, the mean is smaller than the median.

Question 25
A researcher wishes to determine the proportion of adults who have severe neck pain due to long usage
time of mobile phone. From a sample of 253 adults, 127 indicated that they have severe neck pain. What
is the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval of the proportion? Write your answer as a decimal
number and correct it to 4 decimal places.

Solution
The sample proportion is
127
^p= =0.502
253
The upper limit of the 95% confidence interval is

^p + z
√ ^p (1− ^p )
n
=0.502+1.96
√0.502 ( 1−0.502 )
253
=0.5636