The standard deviation of a simple random sample of 15 customer waiting times is found to be 4.8 minutes. Find the test statistic to test the claim that the standard deviation of all customer waiting times is greater than 3.5 minutes. Use a 0.01 significance level.

A) 28.212
B) 7.444
C) 26.331
D) 19.200

1 answer

To test the claim that the standard deviation of all customer waiting times is greater than 3.5 minutes, you can use the chi-square test for standard deviation. The test statistic is calculated with the following formula:

\[ \chi^2 = \frac{(n - 1)s^2}{\sigma_0^2} \]

Where:

  • \( n \) = sample size
  • \( s \) = sample standard deviation
  • \( \sigma_0 \) = claimed population standard deviation

Given:

  • \( n = 15 \)
  • \( s = 4.8 \) minutes
  • \( \sigma_0 = 3.5 \) minutes

First, calculate \( s^2 \) and \( \sigma_0^2 \):

\[ s^2 = (4.8)^2 = 23.04 \] \[ \sigma_0^2 = (3.5)^2 = 12.25 \]

Now, substitute these values into the chi-square formula:

\[ \chi^2 = \frac{(15 - 1) \times 23.04}{12.25} = \frac{14 \times 23.04}{12.25} \]

Calculating \( \chi^2 \):

\[ \chi^2 = \frac{322.56}{12.25} \approx 26.3336 \]

Rounding this to three decimal places:

\[ \chi^2 \approx 26.334 \]

Thus, the test statistic is approximately \( 26.331 \).

The answer is:

C) 26.331