Answer:
a) By the Central Limit Theorem, it is approximately normal.
b) The standard error of the distribution of the sample mean is 1.8333.
c) 0.1379 = 13.79% of the samples will have a mean useful life of more than 38 hours.
d) 0.7939 = 79.39% of the samples will have a mean useful life greater than 34.5 hours
e) 0.656 = 65.6% of the samples will have a mean useful life between 34.5 and 38 hours
Step-by-step explanation:
To solve this question, we need to understand the normal probability distribution and the central limit theorem.
Normal Probability Distribution:
Problems of normal distributions can be solved using the z-score formula.
In a set with mean 
and standard deviation 
, the z-score of a measure X is given by:
The Z-score measures how many standard deviations the measure is from the mean. After finding the Z-score, we look at the z-score table and find the p-value associated with this z-score. This p-value is the probability that the value of the measure is smaller than X, that is, the percentile of X. Subtracting 1 by the p-value, we get the probability that the value of the measure is greater than X.
Central Limit Theorem
The Central Limit Theorem estabilishes that, for a normally distributed random variable X, with mean and standard deviation , the sampling distribution of the sample means with size n can be approximated to a normal distribution with mean and standard deviation 
.
For a skewed variable, the Central Limit Theorem can also be applied, as long as n is at least 30.
Mean of 36 hours and a standard deviation of 5.5 hours.
This means that 
a. What can you say about the shape of the distribution of the sample mean?
By the Central Limit Theorem, it is approximately normal.
b. What is the standard error of the distribution of the sample mean? (Round your answer to 4 decimal places.)
Sample of 9 means that 
. So
The standard error of the distribution of the sample mean is 1.8333.
c. What proportion of the samples will have a mean useful life of more than 38 hours?
This is 1 subtracted by the pvalue of Z when X = 38. So
By the Central Limit Theorem
has a pvalue of 0.8621
1 - 0.8621 = 0.1379
0.1379 = 13.79% of the samples will have a mean useful life of more than 38 hours.
d. What proportion of the sample will have a mean useful life greater than 34.5 hours?
This is 1 subtracted by the pvalue of Z when X = 34.5. So
has a pvalue of 0.2061.
1 - 0.2061 = 0.7939
0.7939 = 79.39% of the samples will have a mean useful life greater than 34.5 hours.
e. What proportion of the sample will have a mean useful life between 34.5 and 38 hours?
pvalue of Z when X = 38 subtracted by the pvalue of Z when X = 34.5. So
0.8621 - 0.2061 = 0.656
0.656 = 65.6% of the samples will have a mean useful life between 34.5 and 38 hours
