Solved: Two alloys A and B are being used to manufacture a

Chapter 9, Problem 8.34

(choose chapter or problem)

Two alloys A and B are being used to manufacture a certain steel product. An experiment needs to be designed to compare the two in terms of maximum load capacity in tons (the maximum weight that can be tolerated without breaking). It is known that the two standard deviations in load capacity are equal at 5 tons each. An experiment is conducted in which 30 specimens of each alloy (A and B) are tested and the results recorded as follows: xA = 49 .5, xB = 45 .5; xA xB =4 . The manufacturers of alloy A are convinced that this evidence shows conclusively that A >B and strongly supports the claim that their alloy is superior. Manufacturers of alloy B claim that the experiment could easily have given xA xB =4even if the two population means are equal. In other words, the results are inconclusive! (a) Make an argument that manufacturers of alloy B are wrong. Do it by computingP( XA XB > 4 | A = B). (b) Do you think these data strongly support alloy A?