Final answer:
When suspecting that a bottle labeled to contain 16 fluid ounces of water holds less, a left-tailed test is used to verify if the average amount is indeed less than claimed.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you believe a bottle labeled to contain 16 fluid ounces of water actually contains less, you would use a left-tailed test. This type of test is appropriate when the alternative hypothesis (Ha) suggests the population mean is less than a certain value. In this case, if we set up the null hypothesis (H0) as μ = 16 oz, meaning the bottles contain exactly 16 fluid ounces on average, then our alternative hypothesis would be μ < 16 oz, indicating we are testing for the mean being less than 16 oz.
A left-tailed test is used because you are only concerned with values falling short of the labeled amount, not values that exceed it.