At one point the average price of regular unleaded gasoline was ​$3.54 per gallon. Assume that the standard deviation price per gallon is ​$0.06 per gallon and use​ Chebyshev's inequality to answer the following.
​(a) What percentage of gasoline stations had prices within 3 standard deviations of the​ mean? ​
(b) What percentage of gasoline stations had prices within 2.5 standard deviations of the​ mean? What are the gasoline prices that are within 2.5 standard deviations of the​ mean? ​
(c) What is the minimum percentage of gasoline stations that had prices between ​$3.30 and ​$3.78​?

Respuesta :

Answer:

a) at least 88.88% of the gasoline stations had prices within 3 standard deviations of the​ mean

b) at least 84% of the gasoline stations had prices within 2.5 standard deviations of the​ mean

c) at least 93.75% of the gasoline stations had prices between $3.30 and $3.78 per gallon

Step-by-step explanation:

Following Chebyshev's inequality:

P(|X- μ | ≤ k*σ|) ≥ 1- 1/k²

where

X= gasoline price

μ = expected value of X (mean)

σ = standard deviation of X

P(|X- μ | ≤ k*σ|) = probability that the random variable X is within k standard deviations of the mean

a) since k=3

P(|X- μ | ≤ 3*σ|) ≥ 1- 1/3² = 8/9 = 88.88%

P(|X- μ | ≤ 3*σ|) ≥ 88.88%

therefore at least 88.88% of the gasoline stations had prices within 3 standard deviations of the​ mean

b) for k=2.5

P(|X- μ | ≤ 2.5*σ|) ≥ 1- 1/2.5² = 0.84 = 84%

P(|X- μ | ≤ 2.5*σ|) = 84%

therefore at least 84% of the gasoline stations had prices within 2.5 standard deviations of the​ mean

c) starting from

|X- μ | = k*σ

k= |X- μ | / σ

for X=$3.30 , μ​=$3.54, σ= ​$0.06

k= |X- μ | / σ = |3.30 - 3.54| / 0.06 = 4

for X=$3.78 , μ​=$3.54, σ= ​$0.06

k= |X- μ | / σ = |3.78- 3.54| / 0.06 = 4

then, since the range 3.78 - 3.30 is the same that 4 standard deviations of the mean, we apply  Chebyshev's inequality for k=4 :

P( 3.30 ≤X≤3.78 ) = P(|X- μ | ≤ 4*σ|) ≥ 1- 1/4² = 0.9375 = 93.75%

P( $3.30 ≤X≤$3.78 ) ≥ 93.75%

thus at least 93.75% of the gasoline stations had prices between $3.30 and $3.78 per gallon