Question Use the following information: , , and To find the test statistic (Step 2).
Studdy Solution
STEP 1
What is this asking?
We're checking if the *true average* is less than 20, given a *sample average* of 18 from 48 data points and a *population standard deviation* of 4.6.
Watch out!
Don't mix up the *sample* and *population* standard deviations!
We're given the *population* standard deviation here, so we'll use a z-test, not a t-test.
STEP 2
1. Set up the z-test
2. Calculate the test statistic
STEP 3
Alright, so we're dealing with a hypothesis test here!
Our **null hypothesis** says the *population mean* is 20.
But we suspect it might actually be *less* than 20, and that's our **alternative hypothesis** .
STEP 4
Since we know the *population standard deviation* , we're going to use a **z-test**.
The z-test formula is: .
This formula tells us how far our **sample mean** is from the **hypothesized population mean** , measured in terms of **standard errors**.
STEP 5
Let's plug in what we know.
We have , (from our null hypothesis), , and .
STEP 6
Substituting the values into our formula, we get: .
STEP 7
Let's simplify the denominator first: .
So, our **standard error** is approximately 0.664.
STEP 8
Now, let's compute the numerator: .
This tells us our **sample mean** is 2 units *below* our **hypothesized mean**.
STEP 9
Finally, divide the numerator by the denominator: .
So, our **test statistic** is approximately .
STEP 10
Our **test statistic** is approximately .
This means our sample mean is about 3 standard deviations *below* the hypothesized population mean.
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