Final answer:
A manufacturer should use a p-chart to control the quality of their products when samples of equal size are taken and decisions of 'defective/acceptable' are made for each unit.
Step-by-step explanation:
For a manufacturer using statistical process control to monitor the quality of Product A by taking samples of 50 and making 'defective/acceptable' decisions on each unit, the appropriate type of control chart to use is a p-chart or proportion chart.
This is because a p-chart is designed for controlling the proportion of defective items in a sample when the samples are of equal size. Since each item is being classified as either defective or acceptable, this suggests a dichotomous type of data where a p-chart is most suitable.
The control limits of the p-chart are calculated based on the assumed binomial distribution of the defect rates in the samples. It helps the manufacturer to determine if the variation in the proportion of defective items is due to random chance or if it signals a shift in the process that requires attention.