Q1 — CLT and Probability for Sample Mean(中心极限定理与样本均值概率)

Question (EN): A logistics company records the daily shipping cost per truck. For a very long period, the population mean cost is known to be dollars with population standard deviation dollars. Assume the daily costs are not exactly normal but moderately skewed.

A manager takes a simple random sample of days.

  • (a) Find the mean and standard error of the sampling distribution of .
  • (b) Use the Central Limit Theorem to approximate .
  • (c) Explain, in words, why it is reasonable to use the normal approximation here.

Q2 — Finite Population Correction in Employee Survey(员工调查中的有限总体修正)

Question (EN): A company has a finite population of employees. The monthly overtime hours (in hours) in this population have a known standard deviation of hours.

A HR analyst selects a simple random sample:

  • Case A: employees
  • Case B: employees

For each case:

  • (a) Compute the standard error of ignoring the finite population correction (FPC).
  • (b) Compute the standard error of with the FPC, using
    .
  • (c) Comment on when the FPC is important and when it can be ignored.

Q3 — Comparing Precision at Different Sample Sizes(不同样本量下估计精度比较)

Question (EN): The daily sales (in units) for a popular product have population mean and population standard deviation . Assume the population is very large and can be treated as infinite.

Two analysts independently estimate the mean daily sales:

  • Analyst A uses a simple random sample of days.
  • Analyst B uses a simple random sample of days.

For each analyst:

  • (a) Compute the standard error of .
  • (b) Approximate using the normal distribution.
  • (c) Comment on which estimate is more precise and why.

Q4 — Sampling Distribution of Sample Proportion(样本比例的抽样分布)

Question (EN): In a large online store, the long-run proportion of orders with express shipping is . A data analyst takes a simple random sample of orders.

  • (a) Compute the mean and standard error of the sampling distribution of .
  • (b) Use the normal approximation to estimate .
  • (c) Explain the conditions under which the normal approximation for is valid.

Q5 — Designing Sample Size for Target Precision(根据精度目标设计样本量)

Question (EN): A university wants to estimate the mean weekly study time (in hours) of its business students. From past data, the population standard deviation is approximately hours.

The dean wants the sample mean to be within hours of the true mean with confidence, assuming the sampling distribution of is approximately normal.

  • (a) Find the minimum required sample size to meet this precision requirement (use ).
  • (b) Explain the relationship between sample size, standard error, and confidence interval width.
  • (c) Briefly comment on why is an unbiased but not “perfect” estimator of .