Question

At a large high school, 40% of a random sample of male students have an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher. A random sample of female student records finds that 45% have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The principal of the high school wants to determine whether there is evidence of a difference in grades between males and females. What would he write as the null and alternative hypotheses for this situation?

Answer 1

Null hypothesis: The grades between males and females are the same.

Alternate hypothesis: The grades between males and females are not the same.

Explanation:

A null hypothesis is a statement from a population parameter which is either rejected or accepted (fail to reject) upon testing. It expresses equality.

An alternate hypothesis is also a statement from the population parameter which negates the null hypothesis and is accepted if the null hypothesis is rejected. It expresses inequality.