Assume that the data has a normal distribution and the number of observations is greater than fifty. Find the critical z value used to test a null hypothesis.

α = 0.1 for a two-tailed test.

A) ±1.645
B) ±2.33
C) ±2.052
D) ±1.4805

1 answer

To find the critical z value for a two-tailed test with a significance level \( \alpha = 0.1 \), we first need to determine the critical values that correspond to this significance level.

For a two-tailed test with \( \alpha = 0.1 \), the significance level in each tail will be \( \frac{\alpha}{2} = 0.05 \).

Next, we look for the z values that correspond to the cumulative probabilities of 0.05 and 0.95 on the standard normal distribution.

Using standard z-tables or a calculator:

  1. The critical z value associated with a cumulative probability of 0.05 is approximately \(-1.645\).
  2. The critical z value associated with a cumulative probability of 0.95 is approximately \(1.645\).

Thus, the critical z values for this two-tailed test are:

\[ \pm 1.645 \]

Therefore, the correct answer is:

A) ±1.645