Question

Mercury pollution is widely recognized as a serious ecological problem. Much of the mercury released into the environment originates as a byproduct of coal burning and other industrial processes. It does not become dangerous until it falls into large bodies of water where microorganisms convert it to methylmercury ( ) 203 CH3 , an organic form that is particularly toxic. Fish are intermediaries: they ingest and absorb the methylmercury and are then eaten by humans. Men and women, however, may not metabolize 203 CH3 at the same rate. In one study investigating that question, six women were given a known amount of a protein-based methylmercury. The half-lives of the methylmercury in their systems were found to be 52, 69, 73, 88, 87, and 56 days. For men, the average 203 CH3 half-life is believed to be 80 days. Assume that for both genders, 203 CH3 half-lives are normally distributed with a standard deviation of σ = 8 days. a. Based on these data, is it believable that males and females metabolize methylmercury at the same rate? Conduct a hypothesis test to answer this question. Please compute the p-value for the test in two different ways: (i) assuming σ = 8 and (ii) assuming σ is unknown. b. Based on this data, is it believable that σ = 8 ? Conduct a hypothesis test to answer this question.

Answer 1

Answer: ---- Date: ----3/6/2019