Tutorial 5

Question 1:
Suppose Z ~ N(µ = 0, s = 1). Find the following probabilities using the normal
distribution table:
a. P(Z > 0)
b. P(Z > 1.5)
c. P(Z < 2)
d. P(Z > -1.25)
e. P(Z < -3.1)
f. P(-1 < Z < 2)
g. P(1.5 < Z < 1.65)

Answers:
a. P(Z >0) = 0.5000
b. P(Z > 1.5) = 0.0668
c. P(Z < 2) = 1 – P(Z > 2) = 1 – 0.02275 = 0.97725
d. P(Z > -1.25) = P(Z < 1.25) =1 – P(Z > 1.25) = 1 - 0.1056 = 0.8944
e. P(Z < -3.1) = P(Z > 3.1) = 0.00097
f. P(-1 < Z < 2) = P(Z <2) – P(Z < -1) = (1 – P(Z > 2)) – P(Z > 1) =
(1 – 0.02275) – 0.1587 = 0.97725 – 0.1587 = 0.81855
g. P(1.5 < Z < 1.65) = P(Z < 1.65) – P(Z < 1.5) =
(1 – P(Z > 1.65)) – (1 – P(Z > 1.5)) = (1 – 0.0495) – (1 – 0.0668) =
0.9505 – 0.9332 = 0.0173

Question 2:
Let Z ~ N(µ = 0, s = 1), Z has a standard normal distribution. Find the value for k in
the following:
a. P(Z > k) = 0.3
b. P(Z < k) = 0.4
c. P(Z < k) = 0.8
d. P(Z > k) = 0.9

Answers:
a. k = 0.52
b. k = - 0.25
c. P(Z < k) = 0.8 => P(Z > k) = 0.2, so k = 0.84
d. P(Z > k) = 0.9 => P(Z < k) = 0.1 => P(Z > -k) = 0.1, so k = -1.28
Question 3:
Using data from the “new” average-speed zone on the M7 between Junctions 26
(Nenagh) and Junctions 27 (Birdhill), the speed of cars in this zone is seen to be
normally distributed with mean 115 km/hr and standard deviation of 4 km/hr.
a. Draw a rough sketch of the distribution.
b. Find P(X > 120).
c. Calculate P(X < 105).
d. What is the value of P(105 < X < 125)?
e. 1% of drivers travel this zone above what speed?

Answers:
a. Plot below
b. P(X > 120)
Need to convert from X ~ N(115, 4) to Z ~ N(0, 1)
!"# !"%%&
Z= =
$ '
!"#$!!%
P(X > 120) = P! 𝑍 > &
% = P(Z > 1.25) = 0.1056
c. P(X < 105)
!#%$!!%
P(X < 105) = P! 𝑍 < &
% P(Z < -2.5) = P(Z > 2.5) = 0.00621
d. P(105 < X <125)
P(X < 125) – P(X < 105)
!"%$!!%
P(X < 125) = P! 𝑍 < &
% P(Z < 2.5) = 1 - P(Z > 2.5) = 1 - 0.00621= 0.99379
P(X < 125) – P(X < 105) = 0.99379 – 0.00621 = 0.98758
e. P(X > k) = 0.01; P(Z > 2.33) = 0.01(2.33 from tables)
X – 115 = 4(2.33)
X = 9.32 + 115 = 124.32
Question 4:
While on Co-Op, Jane is asked to perform some analysis on customer ratings for a
similar product from 4 different brands. To begin her analysis, she computed the 95%
confidence intervals for the customer ratings (marked out of 100) for each brand and
are shown in the table below. What conclusions can be drawn about the brands from
the confidence intervals?
95 % Confidence
Brand
Interval
A (45.3, 62.5)
B (36.2, 57.2)
C (65.4, 75.3)
D (74.9, 80.2)

Answers:
Included below is a plot of each brand and their associated 95% CI. May be useful to
draw out to understand the solution.
From the 95% confidence intervals, it appears that brands A and B have lower
customer ratings than those of brands C and D. We can’t state any differences
between brands C and D using just the confidence intervals (due to overlap). A
statistical test would be required to determine whether there is a significant difference
between brands C and D. We can however say there is a significant difference
between brands A and D using just the confidence intervals.
Question 5:
Sam is going on a coffee date in Limerick city at the weekend. Wanting to bring his
date somewhere that isn’t Starbucks, he heads into town a few days before to check
the prices of lattes (his favourite way to drink coffee) in 9 local cafés. The table below
shows the 9 independent coffee retailers he decided to visit and the price of a latte
in each.
Café Latte Price
Carlton Coffee €3.50
Esquires €4.05
Habit €4.00
Oahu €4.75
Guji €4.20
Best Boy Coffee €4.00
Fika Coffee €4.30
Wildberry Café €3.40
Hook and Ladder €3.50
Using these results calculate:
a. The mean, rounded to 2 decimal places.
b. Given the latte prices have a standard deviation of €0.44, construct and
interpret a 90% confidence interval for the population mean latte price.
c. Without doing any further calculations, would a 99% confidence interval be
wider, narrower or the same width to the confidence interval found in part b?

Answers:
a. Can calculate this by hand or using their calculator. Instructions for Casio fx-85
GT Plus calculator provided.

Hand
Mean = (3.50 + 4.05 + 4.00 + 4.75 + 4.20 + 4.00 + 4.30 + 3.40 + 3.50)/9 =
3.97

Calculator Steps
1. Press the MODE button
2. Press the 2 button for STAT
3. Press the 1 button for 1 – VAR
4. Type in the data, press = button after every entry
5. Once all the data are in the table, press the AC button
6. Press the SHIFT button followed by the 1 button to bring up the stats
options
7. Press the 4 button for VAR
8. Press the 2 button for the mean (𝑥̅ )
b. Since our sample size is small, n = 9 < 30, we need to use the t-tables.
For this, we calculate the degrees of freedom = df = n – 1 = 8. We are asked
to construct the 90% CI, this means we need to find t0.05, 8 in the t-tables, shown
in the image below.

t0.05, 8 = 1.860, is the value we need to use to construct the 90% CI.
𝑠
CI: 𝑋* ± 𝑡0.05,8 𝑛
√
90% CI: 3.97 ± 1.860 (0.44/3) 3 = sqrt(9)
3.97 ± 0.27 = (3.70, 4.24)
We are 90% confident that the true mean price of a latte in Limerick city lies
between €3.70 and €4.24.

c. Wider. The higher the confidence level, the wider the interval must be.