STAT 440 . Homework 5.

The due: Friday, March 16.

• Problem 1. Chapter 8. Exercise 1.

• Problem 2.
A forester is interested in estimating the total volume of trees
in a timber sale. He records the volume of each tree in a simple
random sample. In addition, he measures the basal area for all
trees. The total number of trees is 250 and he takes 12 for the
s.r.s. The total area for all 250 trees is 75 square feet. Use the
data in the accompanying table to estimate the total volume of
the 250 trees. Basal area is measured in square feet and volume
is measured in cubic-foot.

Tree sampled 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
basal area .3 .8 .4 .9 .7 .2 .4 .5 .8 .4 .8 .6
volume 6 13 7 18 14 5 11 6 20 9 17 13

a) Draw a scatter plot of the data and comment whether it

may be appropriate to use the ratio estimate. What about the
regression estimate?
b) Use ratio estimate to estimate the total volume and pro-
vide a 95% confidence interval.
c) Use the regression estimate to estimate the total volume
and provide a 95% confidence interval.
d) Use N y to estimate the total volume and provide a 95%
confidence interval.
e) Among these three estimates, which one will you recom-
mend? Explain.

• Problem 3.
If one wants to estimate the total volume within 60 cubic-
foot with a 95% confidence interval using a ratio estimate, how
many trees should be sampled?
(Hint : you can translate this to an estimating population
mean problem or derive the formula for the sample size needed
for estimating a population total.)
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• Problem 4.
An experimenter was investigating a new food additive for
cattle. He was interested in estimating the average weight for
the entire herd of 500 steers one month into study. A simple
random sample of n = 10 steers was selected from the herd
and weighed. The prestudy average weight for the herb is 880
pounds. The data for the sample are given in the following
table:

Steer 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Prestudy weight 815 919 690 987 500 560 1323 1074 789 573
Present weight 897 992 748 1093 762 828 1428 1152 875 580

a) Draw a scatter plot of the data and comment whether it

may be appropriate to use the ratio estimate. What about the
regression estimate?
b) Use ratio estimate to estimate the average present weight
and provide a 95% confidence interval.
c) Use the regression estimate to estimate the average present
weight and provide a 95% confidence interval.
d) Use sample mean to estimate the average present weight
and provide a 95% confidence interval.
e) Among these three estimates, which one will you recom-
mend? Explain.