Scotland has been a member of the United Kingdom since the 1707 Act of Union. In a recent poll, 38% of Scots would vote in favor of leaving the U.K. A random sample of 135 Scots was selected. What is the probability that between 50 and 60 of them were in favor of leaving the U.K.?

Respuesta :

Answer:

57.39% probability that between 50 and 60 of them were in favor of leaving the U.K.

Step-by-step explanation:

I am going to use the normal approximmation to the binomial to solve this question.

Binomial probability distribution

Probability of exactly x sucesses on n repeated trials, with p probability.

Can be approximated to a normal distribution, using the expected value and the standard deviation.

The expected value of the binomial distribution is:

[tex]E(X) = np[/tex]

The standard deviation of the binomial distribution is:

[tex]\sqrt{V(X)} = \sqrt{np(1-p)}[/tex]

Normal probability distribution

Problems of normally distributed samples can be solved using the z-score formula.

In a set with mean [tex]\mu[/tex] and standard deviation [tex]\sigma[/tex], the zscore of a measure X is given by:

[tex]Z = \frac{X - \mu}{\sigma}[/tex]

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 pvalue, we get the probability that the value of the measure is greater than X.

When we are approximating a binomial distribution to a normal one, we have that [tex]\mu = E(X)[/tex], [tex]\sigma = \sqrt{V(X)}[/tex].

In this problem, we have that:

[tex]n = 135, p = 0.38[/tex]

So

[tex]\mu = E(X) = np = 135*0.38 = 51.3[/tex]

[tex]\sigma = \sqrt{V(X)} = \sqrt{np(1-p)} = \sqrt{135*0.38*0.62} = 5.6397[/tex]

What is the probability that between 50 and 60 of them were in favor of leaving the U.K.?

Using continuity correction, this is [tex]P(50-0.5 \leq X \leq 60 + 0.5) = P(49.5 \leq X \leq 60.5)[/tex]. So this is the pvalue of Z when X = 60.5 subtracted by the pvalue of Z when X = 49.5. So

X = 60.5

[tex]Z = \frac{X - \mu}{\sigma}[/tex]

[tex]Z = \frac{60.5 - 51.3}{5.6397}[/tex]

[tex]Z = 1.63[/tex]

[tex]Z = 1.63[/tex] has a pvalue of 0.9484

X = 49.5

[tex]Z = \frac{X - \mu}{\sigma}[/tex]

[tex]Z = \frac{49.5 - 51.3}{5.6397}[/tex]

[tex]Z = -0.32[/tex]

[tex]Z = -0.32[/tex] has a pvalue of 0.3745

0.9484 - 0.3745 = 0.5739

57.39% probability that between 50 and 60 of them were in favor of leaving the U.K.

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