IME 524 Prob&Stat II QUIZ #2 Solution

01 Feb 2016

1. The following data came from breakdown voltage of electrically stressed circuits. Assume
that breakdown voltages are approximately normally distributed. 17 circuits were randomly
chosen and electrically stressed. The following were the recorded breakdown voltages:
1470
1510
1690
1740
1900
2000
2030
2100
2290
2380
2390
2480
2500
2580
2700
The computed sample mean = 2126.47 and sample variance = 137,324.3.

2190

2200

a) Find the 95% confidence interval for population variance.

2
(n-1)s / /2,df
2

(n-1)s /

20.025/ 2,16 = 28.845,

(1 2 ), df

, df = n -1 = 16, = 0.05

20.975,16 = 6.908

(17-1)(137,324.3)/28.845 2 (17-1)(137,324.3)/6.908
76,172.3 2 318,064.4
b) What can you conclude about the variability of variance estimate?
We are 95% confident that the true variance in breakdown voltage is between 76,172.3
and 318,064.4.
(The variability of variance, as indicated by the CI, is rather large. That is, the variability
is quite wide.)