a catering company provides packages for weddings and for showers. the cost per person for small groups is…

a catering company provides packages for weddings and for showers. the cost per person for small groups is approximately normally distributed for both weddings and showers. the mean cost for weddings is $82.30 with a standard deviation of $18.20, while the mean cost for showers is $65 with a standard deviation of $17.73. if 9 weddings and 6 showers are randomly selected, what is the probability the mean cost of the weddings is more than the mean cost of the showers?\n0.0022\n0.0335\n0.9665\n0.9978
Answer
Explanation:
Step1: Identify the means and standard - deviations of sample means
For weddings: $\mu_{w}=82.30$, $\sigma_{w}=18.20$, $n_{w}=9$. The mean of the sample mean for weddings is $\mu_{\bar{x}w}=\mu{w}=82.30$, and the standard deviation of the sample mean is $\sigma_{\bar{x}w}=\frac{\sigma{w}}{\sqrt{n_{w}}}=\frac{18.20}{\sqrt{9}}=\frac{18.20}{3}=6.067$. For showers: $\mu_{s}=65$, $\sigma_{s}=17.73$, $n_{s}=6$. The mean of the sample mean for showers is $\mu_{\bar{x}s}=\mu{s}=65$, and the standard deviation of the sample mean is $\sigma_{\bar{x}s}=\frac{\sigma{s}}{\sqrt{n_{s}}}=\frac{17.73}{\sqrt{6}}\approx7.23$.
Step2: Define the new random variable
Let $D = \bar{X}_w-\bar{X}s$. The mean of $D$ is $\mu_D=\mu{\bar{x}w}-\mu{\bar{x}s}=82.30 - 65=17.30$. The standard deviation of $D$ is $\sigma_D=\sqrt{\sigma{\bar{x}w}^{2}+\sigma{\bar{x}_s}^{2}}=\sqrt{6.067^{2}+7.23^{2}}=\sqrt{36.81 + 52.27}=\sqrt{89.08}\approx9.44$.
Step3: Calculate the z - score
We want to find $P(\bar{X}_w>\bar{X}_s)$, which is equivalent to $P(\bar{X}_w - \bar{X}_s>0)$ or $P(D > 0)$. The z - score is $z=\frac{0 - \mu_D}{\sigma_D}=\frac{0 - 17.30}{9.44}\approx - 1.83$.
Step4: Find the probability
Using the standard normal distribution table, $P(Z>-1.83)=1 - P(Z\leq - 1.83)$. From the standard - normal table, $P(Z\leq - 1.83)=0.0336$. So $P(Z>-1.83)=1 - 0.0336 = 0.9664\approx0.9665$.
Answer:
0.9665