Question

After running a mile a day over a period of two weeks, the average amount of weight loss is 2.5 pounds. A dietitian, who publishes health articles in a newspaper, states their new diet program helps with additional weight loss when combining their special diet with running a mile a day over a period of two weeks. Interested in studying the dietitian's article further, you ask friends who have tried the dietitian's new program and you determine their weight loss to be 3.0 pounds in a two week period, on average. As you set up a hypothesis test to determine if the dietitian's article is correct, what is the dietitian's claim?

a. Adults should run every day to lose weight.
b. The average amount of weight loss is less than 2.52.5 pounds.
c. The average amount of weight loss is greater than 3.03.0 pounds.
d. The average amount of weight loss is greater than 2.52.5 pounds.

Answer 1

d. The average amount of weight loss is greater than 2.5 pounds.

Explanation:

After running a mile a day over a period of two weeks, the average amount of weight loss is 2.5 pounds.

At the null hypothesis, we test if this mean is of 2.5, that is:

`H_0: \mu = 2.5`

A dietitian, who publishes health articles in a newspaper, states their new diet program helps with additional weight loss.

With the additional weight loss, the dietitian claims that the mean is more than the value presented at the null hypothesis, that is, more than 2.5, and thus, the correct answer is:

`H_1: \mu > 2.5`

And thus, the correct option is given by option d.