Recall that Benford's Law claims that numbers chosen from very large data files tend to have "1" as the first nonzero digit disproportionately often. In fact, research has shown that if you randomly draw a number from a very large data file, the probability of getting a number with "1" as the leading digit is about 0.301. Now suppose you are an auditor for a very large corporation. The revenue report involves millions of numbers in a large computer file. Let us say you took a random sample of n = 215 numerical entries from the file and r = 50 of the entries had a first nonzero digit of 1. Let p represent the population proportion of all numbers in the corporate file that have a first nonzero digit of 1. (i) Test the claim that p is less than 0.301. Use ? = 0.10.   (a) What is the level of significance? State the null and alternate hypotheses. H0: p = 0.301; H1: p < 0.301H0: p < 0.301; H1: p = 0.301    H0: p = 0.301; H1: p > 0.301H0: p = 0.301; H1: p ≠ 0.301 (b) What sampling distribution will you use? The Student's t, since np > 5 and nq > 5.The standard normal, since np < 5 and nq < 5.    The standard normal, since np > 5 and nq > 5.The Student's t, since np < 5 and nq < 5. What is the value of the sample test statistic? (Round your answer to two decimal places.) (c) Find the P-value of the test statistic. (Round your answer to four decimal places.) Sketch the sampling distribution and show the area corresponding to the P-value.         (d) Based on your answers in parts (a) to (c), will you reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis? Are the data statistically significant at level ?? At the ? = 0.10 level, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude the data are statistically significant.At the ? = 0.10 level, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude the data are not statistically significant.    At the ? = 0.10 level, we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude the data are statistically significant.At the ? = 0.10 level, we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude the data are not statistically significant. (e) Interpret your conclusion in the context of the application. There is sufficient evidence at the 0.10 level to conclude that the true proportion of numbers with a leading 1 in the revenue file is less than 0.301.There is insufficient evidence at the 0.10 level to conclude that the true proportion of numbers with a leading 1 in the revenue file is less than 0.301.

MATLAB: An Introduction with Applications
6th Edition
ISBN:9781119256830
Author:Amos Gilat
Publisher:Amos Gilat
Chapter1: Starting With Matlab
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1P
icon
Related questions
Question

Recall that Benford's Law claims that numbers chosen from very large data files tend to have "1" as the first nonzero digit disproportionately often. In fact, research has shown that if you randomly draw a number from a very large data file, the probability of getting a number with "1" as the leading digit is about 0.301. Now suppose you are an auditor for a very large corporation. The revenue report involves millions of numbers in a large computer file. Let us say you took a random sample of n = 215 numerical entries from the file and r = 50 of the entries had a first nonzero digit of 1. Let p represent the population proportion of all numbers in the corporate file that have a first nonzero digit of 1.

(i) Test the claim that p is less than 0.301. Use ? = 0.10.

 
(a) What is the level of significance?


State the null and alternate hypotheses.
H0p = 0.301; H1p < 0.301H0p < 0.301; H1p = 0.301    H0p = 0.301; H1p > 0.301H0p = 0.301; H1p ≠ 0.301

(b) What sampling distribution will you use?
The Student's t, since np > 5 and nq > 5.The standard normal, since np < 5 and nq < 5.    The standard normal, since np > 5 and nq > 5.The Student's t, since np < 5 and nq < 5.

What is the value of the sample test statistic? (Round your answer to two decimal places.)


(c) Find the P-value of the test statistic. (Round your answer to four decimal places.)


Sketch the sampling distribution and show the area corresponding to the P-value.
   
   

(d) Based on your answers in parts (a) to (c), will you reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis? Are the data statistically significant at level ??
At the ? = 0.10 level, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude the data are statistically significant.At the ? = 0.10 level, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude the data are not statistically significant.    At the ? = 0.10 level, we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude the data are statistically significant.At the ? = 0.10 level, we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude the data are not statistically significant.

(e) Interpret your conclusion in the context of the application.
There is sufficient evidence at the 0.10 level to conclude that the true proportion of numbers with a leading 1 in the revenue file is less than 0.301.There is insufficient evidence at the 0.10 level to conclude that the true proportion of numbers with a leading 1 in the revenue file is less than 0.301.    


(ii) If p is in fact less than 0.301, would it make you suspect that there are not enough numbers in the data file with leading 1's? Could this indicate that the books have been "cooked" by "pumping up" or inflating the numbers? Comment from the viewpoint of a stockholder. Comment from the perspective of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as it looks for money laundering in the form of false profits.

Yes. The revenue data file does not seem to include more numbers with higher first nonzero digits than Benford's law predicts.Yes. The revenue data file seems to include more numbers with higher first nonzero digits than Benford's law predicts.    No. The revenue data file seems to include more numbers with higher first nonzero digits than Benford's law predicts.No. The revenue data file does not seem to include more numbers with higher first nonzero digits than Benford's law predicts.


(iii) Comment on the following statement: If we reject the null hypothesis at level of significance ?, we have not proved Ho to be false. We can say that the probability is ? that we made a mistake in rejecting Ho. Based on the outcome of the test, would you recommend further investigation before accusing the company of fraud?

We have not proved H0 to be false. Because our data lead us to reject the null hypothesis, more investigation is not merited.We have not proved H0 to be false. Because our data lead us to accept the null hypothesis, more investigation is not merited.    We have proved H0 to be false. Because our data lead us to reject the null hypothesis, more investigation is not merited.We have not proved H0 to be false. Because our data lead us to reject the null hypothesis, more investigation is merited.
Expert Solution
steps

Step by step

Solved in 4 steps with 1 images

Blurred answer
Recommended textbooks for you
MATLAB: An Introduction with Applications
MATLAB: An Introduction with Applications
Statistics
ISBN:
9781119256830
Author:
Amos Gilat
Publisher:
John Wiley & Sons Inc
Probability and Statistics for Engineering and th…
Probability and Statistics for Engineering and th…
Statistics
ISBN:
9781305251809
Author:
Jay L. Devore
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
Statistics for The Behavioral Sciences (MindTap C…
Statistics for The Behavioral Sciences (MindTap C…
Statistics
ISBN:
9781305504912
Author:
Frederick J Gravetter, Larry B. Wallnau
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World (7th E…
Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World (7th E…
Statistics
ISBN:
9780134683416
Author:
Ron Larson, Betsy Farber
Publisher:
PEARSON
The Basic Practice of Statistics
The Basic Practice of Statistics
Statistics
ISBN:
9781319042578
Author:
David S. Moore, William I. Notz, Michael A. Fligner
Publisher:
W. H. Freeman
Introduction to the Practice of Statistics
Introduction to the Practice of Statistics
Statistics
ISBN:
9781319013387
Author:
David S. Moore, George P. McCabe, Bruce A. Craig
Publisher:
W. H. Freeman