Statistics and Probability

Identifying the Appropriate Rejection

Region for a Given Level of
Significance
After going through this lesson, you are
expected to:
1. define the critical values, level of
significance, hypothesis test, and rejection
region;
2. identify the critical value when population
variance is known or unknown; and
3. determine the appropriate rejection
region for a given level of significance when
population is known/unknown and Central
Limit Test is to be used.
2
Activity 1. SHADE!
Directions: Given a standard normal curve, shade the
required area.

3
Activity 1. SHADE!
Directions: Given a standard normal curve, shade the
required area.

4
Activity 2: Let Me Read and Understand!
Directions: Carefully read the problem and answer the
questions that follow.
Problem 1. A banana company claims that the mean weight of
their banana is 150 grams with a standard deviation of 18 grams.
Data generated from a sample of 49 bananas randomly selected
indicated a mean weight of 153.5 grams per banana. Is there
sufficient evidence to reject the company’s claim? Use 𝛼 = 0.05.
1. What are the hypotheses?
2. Is it two-tailed or one-tailed test?
3. What is the level of significance?
4. Is the population standard deviation known?
5. What appropriate test statistic (z-test or t-test) can you use?
6. Based on the level of significance, hypothesis test, and test
statistic, what is the critical value?
5
Activity 2: Let Me Read and Understand!
Directions: Carefully read the problem and answer the
questions that follow.
Problem 1. A banana company claims that the mean
weight of their banana is 150 grams with a standard
deviation of 18 grams. Data generated from a sample of
49 bananas randomly selected indicated a mean
weight of 153.5 grams per banana. Is there sufficient
evidence to reject the company’s claim? Use 𝛼 = 0.05.
7. Draw the rejection region.

6
Activity 2: Let Me Read and Understand!
Directions: Carefully read the problem and answer the
questions that follow.
Problem 2. The manufacturer of an airport baggage
scanning machine claims it can handle an average of
530 bags per hour. At 𝛼 = 0.05 in a left tailed test,
would a sample of 16 randomly chosen hours with a
mean of 510 and standard deviation of 50 indicate that
the manufacturer’s claim is an overstatement?
1. What are the hypotheses?
2. Is it two-tailed test or one-tailed test?
3. What is the level of significance?
4. Is the population standard deviation known or
unknown? 7
Activity 2: Let Me Read and Understand!
Directions: Carefully read the problem and answer the
questions that follow.
Problem 2. The manufacturer of an airport baggage
scanning machine claims it can handle an average of
530 bags per hour. At 𝛼 = 0.05 in a left tailed test,
would a sample of 16 randomly chosen hours with a
mean of 510 and standard deviation of 50 indicate that
the manufacturer’s claim is an overstatement?
5. What appropriate test statistic (z-test or t-test) can
you use?
6. Based on the level of significance, hypothesis test,
and test statistic, what is the critical value?
8
Activity 2: Let Me Read and Understand!
Directions: Carefully read the problem and answer the
questions that follow.
Problem 2. The manufacturer of an airport baggage
scanning machine claims it can handle an average of
530 bags per hour. At 𝛼 = 0.05 in a lefttailed test, would
a sample of 16 randomly chosen hours with a mean of
510 and standard deviation of 50 indicate that the
manufacturer’s claim is an overstatement?
7. Draw the rejection region.

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What Is It?
Before we move forward to the different test
statistics, it is important to define the following terms:
In hypothesis testing, a critical value is a point on
the test distribution that is compared to the test
statistic to determine whether to reject the null
hypothesis. Critical values for a test of hypothesis
depend upon the test statistic, which is specific to the
type of the test and significance level (𝛼) which
defines the sensitivity of the test. A value of 𝛼 = 0.05
implies that the null hypothesis is rejected 5% of the
time when it is in fact true. In practice, the common
values of α are 0.1, 0.05, and 0.01.

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What Is It?

Critical Value of z-Distribution

A critical value of z (Z-score) is used when the
sampling distribution is normal or close to normal. Z-
scores are used when the population standard
deviation is known or when you have larger sample
sizes. While the z-score can also be used to calculate
probability for unknown standard deviations and
small samples. Many statisticians prefer using the t-
distribution to calculate these probabilities.

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What Is It?

Table of Critical Values (Z-Score)

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What Is It?

Table of Critical Values (Z-Score)

a. left-tailed test: If the alternative hypothesis 𝐻𝑎

contains the less-than inequality symbol (<), the
hypothesis test is a left-tailed test.
b. right-tailed test: If the alternative hypothesis 𝐻𝑎
contains the greater than inequality symbol (>), the
hypothesis test is a right-tailed test.
c. two-tailed test: If the alternative hypothesis 𝐻𝑎
contains the not-equal-to symbol (≠), the hypothesis
test is a two-tailed test. In a two-tailed test, each tail
has an area of 1/2 𝛼.

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Examples

Find the critical z values. In each case, assume that the

normal distribution applies.
1. left-tailed test with α= 0.01 𝒛 = −𝟐. 𝟑𝟑 (based on the
table of critical value of z)
2. two-tailed test with α=0.05 𝒛 = ±𝟏. 𝟗𝟔
3. right-tailed test with α=0.025 𝒛 = 𝟏. 𝟗6

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Critical Value of t-Distribution

The t-distribution table values are critical values

of the tdistribution. The column header is the t-
distribution probabilities (alpha). The row names are
the degrees of freedom (df).

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Critical Value of t-Distribution

To find critical values for t-distribution:

1. Identify the level of significance.
2. Identify the degrees of freedom, d.f. = n -1.
3. Find the critical value using t-distribution in the row
with n-1 degrees of freedom.
If the hypothesis test is:
a. left-tailed, use “α one tail” column with a negative sign.
b. right-tailed, use “α one tail” column with a positive
sign.
c. two-tailed, use “α two tails” column with a negative
and a positive sign.
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Critical Regions/Rejection Regions

Critical region, also known as the rejection

region, describes the entire area of values that
indicates you reject the null hypothesis. In other
words, the critical region is the area encompassed by
the values not included in the acceptance region. It is
the area of the “tails” of the distribution.

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Rejection Region If Population Variance Is Known

To determine the critical region for a normal

distribution, we use the table for the standard normal
distribution. If the level of significance is = 0.10, then
for a one-tailed test, the critical region is below 𝑧 =
−1.28 or above 𝑧 = 1.28. For a two-tailed test, use /2 =
0.05 and the critical region is below 𝑧 = −1.645 and
above 𝑧 = 1.645. If the absolute value of the calculated
statistics has a value equal to or greater than the
critical value, then the null hypotheses 𝐻𝑜 should be
rejected and the alternate hypothesis 𝐻𝑎 is assumed to
be supported.

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Rejection Region If Population Variance Is
Unknown
To determine the critical region for a t-
distribution, we use the table of the t-distribution.
(Assume that we use a t-distribution with 20 degrees
of freedom.) If the level of significance is = .10, then
for a one-tailed test, 𝑡 = −1.325 or 𝑡 = 1.325. For a two-
tailed test, use /2 = 0.05 and then 𝑡 = −1.725 and 𝑡 =
1.725. If the absolute value of the calculated statistics
has a value equal to or greater than the critical value,
then the null hypotheses 𝐻𝑜 will be rejected and the
alternate hypotheses 𝐻𝑎 is assumed to be correct.

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Hypothesis Test and Their Tails

There are three types of test from a “tails” standpoint:

1. A left-tailed test only has a tail on the left side of the
graph.

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Hypothesis Test and Their Tails

There are three types of test from a “tails” standpoint:

2. A right-tailed test only has a tail on the right side of
the graph.

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Hypothesis Test and Their Tails

There are three types of test from a “tails” standpoint:

3. A two-tailed test has tails on both ends of the graph.
This is a test where the null hypothesis is a claim of a
specific value.

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Illustrative Examples:
Determine the critical values and the appropriate rejection
region. Sketch the sampling distribution.
1. Right-tailed test where 𝝈 is known, 𝜶 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟓, and 𝒏
= 𝟑4
In this example, the population standard deviation is
known. Therefore, the test statistic would be z-test. To
obtain the critical value for the level of significance of 0.05
and one-tailed test, z-value from the table is 1.645. The
hypothesis test is right-tailed, so the inequality symbol
would be ≥. Hence, the rejection region for a one-tailed test
is z ≥ 1.645.

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Illustrative Examples:
Determine the critical values and the appropriate rejection
region. Sketch the sampling distribution.
2. Two-tailed test where 𝝈 is unknown, 𝜶 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟓, and 𝒏 =
10
Since this is a two-tailed test, ½ of 0.05= 0.025 of the
values would be in the left and the other 0.025 would be in
the right tail. Looking up t-score (n=10-1=9) associated with
0.025 on the reference table, we find 2.262. Therefore, +2.262
is the critical value of the right tail and -2.262 is the critical
value of the left tail. The rejection region is −𝟐. 𝟐𝟔𝟐 ≤ 𝒕 ≥ 𝟐.
𝟐𝟔𝟐.

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Illustrative Examples:
Determine the critical values and the appropriate rejection
region. Sketch the sampling distribution.
3. Left-tailed test where 𝝈 is known, 𝜶 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟏, and 𝒏= 𝟒0

A one-tailed test with 0.01 would have 99% of the area

under the curve outside of the critical region. Since the
variance is known, we use z-score as the reference to find the
critical value. This is a left-tailed test, so the critical value we
need is negative. The solution is z= -2.326. The rejection
region is z ≤ -2.326.

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Illustrative Examples:
Determine the critical values and the appropriate rejection
region. Sketch the sampling distribution.
4. A survey reports a customer in the drive thru lane of one
fast food chain spends eight minutes to wait for his/her
order. A sample of 24 customers at the drive thru lane
showed mean of 7.5 minutes with a standard deviation of 3.2
minutes. Is the waiting time at the drive thru lane less than
that of the survey made? Use 0.05 significance level.

26
Illustrative Examples:
Determine the critical values and the appropriate rejection
region. Sketch the sampling distribution.
4. A survey reports a customer in the drive thru lane of one
fast food chain spends eight minutes to wait for his/her
order. A sample of 24 customers at the drive thru lane
showed mean of 7.5 minutes with a standard deviation of 3.2
minutes. Is the waiting time at the drive thru lane less than
that of the survey made? Use 0.05 significance level.

27
Illustrative Examples:
Determine the critical values and the appropriate rejection
region. Sketch the sampling distribution.
5. A banana company claims that the mean weight of their
banana is 150 grams with a standard deviation of 18 grams.
Data generated from a sample of 49 bananas randomly
selected indicated a mean weight of 153.5 grams per banana.
Is there sufficient evidence to reject the company’s claim?
Use 𝛼 = 0.05.

28
Illustrative Examples:
Determine the critical values and the appropriate rejection
region. Sketch the sampling distribution.
5. A banana company claims that the mean weight of their
banana is 150 grams with a standard deviation of 18 grams.
Data generated from a sample of 49 bananas randomly
selected indicated a mean weight of 153.5 grams per banana.
Is there sufficient evidence to reject the company’s claim?
Use 𝛼 = 0.05.

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Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

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Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

1. right-tailed test

n = 25

31
Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

2. two-tailed test
1
n = 20

32
Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

3. two-tailed test

n = 29

33
Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

4. left-tailed test

n = 50

34
Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

5. two-tailed test

n = 67

35
Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

6. one-tailed test,

n = 34

36
Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

7. two-tailed test,

n = 23

37
Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

8. right-tailed test,

n = 15

38
Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

9. one-tailed test,

n = 37

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Exercises
Directions: Find the critical value of the following.

10. left-tailed test,

n = 36

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END

McClave, Statistics, 11th ed. Chapter 4: Discrete

Random Variables 41