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in a famous experiment to determine the efficacy of aspirin in preventing heart attacks, 22,000 healthy middle-aged men were randomly divided into two equal groups, one of which was given a daily dose of aspirin and the other a placebo that looked and tasted identical to the aspirin. the experiment was halted at a time when 104 men in the aspirin group and 189 in the control group had had heart attacks. use these data to test the hypothesis that the taking of aspirin does not change the probability of having a heart attack.

User SnowBlind
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Final answer:

To test the hypothesis that taking aspirin does not change the probability of having a heart attack, we can use a hypothesis test for two proportions. Using the given data, we have the proportion of heart attacks in the aspirin group and the control group. The p-value can then be computed to determine if there is evidence to suggest that taking aspirin does change the probability of having a heart attack.

Step-by-step explanation:

To test the hypothesis that taking aspirin does not change the probability of having a heart attack, we can use a hypothesis test for two proportions. The null hypothesis (H0) is that the proportion of heart attacks is the same in both the aspirin group and the control group. The alternative hypothesis (Ha) is that the proportion of heart attacks differs between the two groups.

To perform the hypothesis test, we need to calculate the test statistic, which is the difference in proportions between the aspirin group and the control group. We can then use this test statistic to calculate a p-value, which represents the probability of obtaining a test statistic as extreme as the one observed if the null hypothesis is true.

Using the given data, we have 104 heart attacks in the aspirin group out of 22000 men, and 189 heart attacks in the control group out of 22000 men. This gives us a proportion of heart attacks of 104/22000 = 0.00473 in the aspirin group and 189/22000 = 0.00859 in the control group.

Using a hypothesis test calculator or a statistical software, we can compute the test statistic and the p-value. If the p-value is less than the chosen significance level (usually 0.05), we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that there is evidence to suggest that taking aspirin does change the probability of having a heart attack.

User Brian Vanderbusch
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