151k views
4 votes
The amount of money spent weekly on cleaning, maintenance, and repairs at a large restaurant was observed over a long period of time to be approximately normally distributed, with mean ? = $615 and standard deviation ? = $38.

(a) If $646 is budgeted for next week, what is the probability that the actual costs will exceed the budgeted amount? (Round your answer to four decimal places.)

User Ravikanth
by
7.7k points

1 Answer

6 votes

Final answer:

Calculate the Z-score using the budgeted amount, the mean, and standard deviation, then find the corresponding probability that costs will exceed this budgeted amount based on the standard normal distribution.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student is asking about finding the probability that the actual costs will exceed a budgeted amount for a normally distributed variable representing weekly expenses on cleaning, maintenance, and repairs at a large restaurant. Given the mean ($615) and standard deviation ($38), and the budget for next week being $646, we need to calculate a Z-score for the budgeted amount and then find the corresponding probability from the standard normal distribution table or computational tools like statistical software or a calculator.

To calculate the Z-score, use the formula Z = (X - μ)/σ, where X is the value for which we are finding the probability, μ the mean, and σ the standard deviation. Then, refer to the standard normal distribution table or a calculator to find the probability of the Z-score, which will give us the probability that actual costs exceed the budgeted amount.

The Z-score is calculated as follows: Z = (646 - 615) / 38 = 0.8158. The probability that Z is greater than 0.8158 can be found in a standard normal distribution table or with a calculator to provide the desired answer, which will be rounded to four decimal places as instructed.

User ValeraZakharov
by
7.8k points