A government agency reports that the mean amount of earnings for full-time workers ages 18 to 24 with a bachelor’s degree in a recent year is $52,133. In a random sample of 15 full-time workers ages 18 to 24 with a bachelor’s degree, the mean amount of earnings is $48,400 and the standard deviation is $6679. At α=0.05, is there enough evidence to reject the claim? Assume the population is normally distributed.

Deciding on a Distribution In Exercises 31 and 32, decide whether you should use the standard normal sampling distribution or a t-sampling distribution to perform the hypothesis test. Justify your decision. Then use the distribution to test the claim. Write a short paragraph about the results of the test and what you can conclude about the claim.

Tuition and Fees An education publication claims that the mean in-state tuition and fees at public four-year institutions by state is more than $10,500 per year. A random sample of 30 states has a mean in-state tuition and fees at public four-year institutions of $10,931 per year. Assume the population standard deviation is $2380. At α=0.01, test the publication’s claim.

[APPLET] The annual earnings (in dollars) for 30 randomly selected locksmiths are shown below. Assume the population is normally distributed. (Adapted from Salary.com)

48,69446,85642,91261,67271,11254,861

69,45471,84159,75169,61254,28452,166

66,36048,16465,27235,25061,12765,397

58,92558,91659,01753,07045,19969,941

69,49257,08553,82952,69268,29853,792

A researcher claims that the mean annual earnings for locksmiths is $55,000. At α=0.05, can you reject the researcher’s claim? Interpret the decision in the context of the original claim.

A hat company claims that the mean hat size for a male is at least 7.25. A random sample of 12 hat sizes has a mean of 7.15. At α=0.01, can you reject the company’s claim? Assume the population is normally distributed and the population standard deviation is 0.27.

A travel analyst claims the mean daily base price for renting a full-size or less expensive vehicle in Vancouver, British Columbia, is more than $86. You want to test this claim. In a random sample of 40 full-size or less expensive vehicles available to rent in Vancouver, British Columbia, the mean daily base price is $93.23. Assume the population standard deviation is $28.90. At α=0.10, do you have enough evidence to support the analyst’s claim?

[APPLET] A weight loss program claims that program participants have a mean weight loss of at least 10.5 pounds after 1 month. The weight losses after 1 month (in pounds) of a random sample of 40 program participants are listed below. At α=0.01, is there enough evidence to reject the program’s claim?

In Exercises 7–10, (d) explain how you should interpret a decision that rejects the null hypothesis.

An energy bar maker claims that the mean number of grams of carbohydrates in one bar is less than 25.

In Exercises 27 and 28, (a) identify the claim and state H0 and Ha, (b) find the critical value(s) and identify the rejection region(s), (c) find the standardized test statistic z, (d) decide whether to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis, and (e) interpret the decision in the context of the original claim.

A substance abuse counselor claims that the mean annual drug overdose death rate for the 50 states is at least 25 deaths per 100,000 people. In a random sample of 30 states, the mean annual drug overdose rate is 22.48 per 100,000 people. Assume the population standard deviation is 10.69 deaths per 100,000. At α=0.01, is there enough evidence to reject the claim?

A travel analyst says that the mean price of a meal for a family of 4 in a resort restaurant is at most $100. A random sample of 33 meal prices for families of 4 has a mean of $110 and a standard deviation of $19. At α=0.01, is there enough evidence to reject the analyst’s claim?