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Lesson 9.4 Hypothesis Testing for a Population Proportion

Hypothesis Testing for a Population Mean When the Population Standard Deviation is Unknown

The distribution for a hypothesis test of a single population proportion is the normal for estimated proportions (see Lesson 7, The Central Limit Theorem).

The statistic is the estimated proportion calculated from the data. We use it to calculate the p-value.

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Hypothesis Testing Problems Using TI-83 or TI-84 calculators

Example: If we flip a fair coin, we believe that heads comes up 50% of the time. Four students, for their math project, flipped one fair coin 500 times and recorded 210 heads. Is the coin fair? Conduct an appropriate hypothesis test. Use a level of significance of 0.005.

The important numbers are the:

  • belief that heads comes up 50% of the time
  • 210 heads
  • sample size of 500 flips of the coin
  • level of significance 0.005

Formulate the 2 hypotheses.

The first sentence and the question, "Is the coin fair?" give us the information we need. If the coin is fair, then the proportion of times heads comes up is 0.5 and if the coin is not fair, the proportion of times is not equal to 0.5. The test is two-tailed.

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Determine the random variable and the distribution for the test.

P'

normal for estimated proportions

Using the statistic calculated from the data, calculate the p-value.

Hypothesis test graph 

Use TI-83 or TI-84 calculator functions.

  • STAT TESTS 5:1-PropZtest
  • po: .5
  • x: 210
  • n: 500
  • p: =/= po
  • Calculate

The p-value (p) is 3.466967E- 4 which is approximately 0.0003 (E-4 = 10-4 = .0001 and 3.466967E-4 is approximately 3 multiplied by .0001 = 0.0003).

Compare α and the p-value and make a decision.

Assume α = 0.05 since none is given.

Since α = 0.005 and 0.005 > 0.0003 (α> p-value), we reject Ho.

Write an appropriate conclusion.

We conclude that the coin is not fair.

Example

Most of us believe that 50% of births are girls and 50% are boys. The following problem hypothesizes that 50% of first born children are girls. Close the window when you are finished viewing the example. You will return here.

Please continue to the next section of this lesson.

 

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Up » 9.1 Hypothesis Testing » 9.2 Hypothesis Testing - Known » 9.3 Hypothesis Testing- Unknown » 9.4 Hypothesis Testing for a Single Population Proportion » 9.5 Type I and II Errors

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