TABLE 10-14
a Problem with a Telephone Line

question 49

Essay

TABLE 10-14
A problem with a telephone line that prevents a customer from receiving or making calls is disconcerting to both the customer and the telephone company. The data on samples of 20 problems reported to two different offices of a telephone company and the time to clear these problems (in minutes) from the customers' lines are collected. Below is the Excel output to see whether there is evidence of a difference in the mean waiting time between the two offices assuming that the population variances in the two offices are not equal.
$$\begin{array}{l}\text { t- Test: Two- Sample Assuming Unequal Variances }\\\begin{array} { l r r } \hline & \text { Office 1 } & \text { Office 2 } \\\hline \text { Mean } & 2214 & 2.0115 \\\text { Variance } & 2.951657 & 3.57855 \\\text { Observations } & 20 & 20 \\\text { Hypothesized Mean Difference } & 0 & \\\mathrm { df } & 38 & \\\mathrm { t } \text { Stat } & 0.354386 & \\\mathrm { P } ( \mathrm { T } < = \mathrm { t } ) \text { one- tail } & 0.362504 & \\\mathrm { t } \text { Critical one- tail } & 1.685953 & \\\mathrm { P } ( \mathrm { T } < = \mathrm { t } ) \text { two- tail } & 0.725009 & \\\mathrm { t } \text { Critical two- tail } & 2.024394 &\end{array}\end{array}$$
-Referring to Table 10-14, what is the upper critical value for testing if there is evidence of a difference in the variability of the waiting time between the two offices at the 5% level of significance?

---

Definitions:

Resource Market

The marketplace where resources or inputs (like labor, capital, and raw materials) used to produce goods and services are bought and sold.

Excess Burden

Refers to the cost to society created by market inefficiency, which occurs when supply and demand are out of equilibrium.

Deadweight Loss

A loss of economic efficiency that can occur when the free market equilibrium for a good or a service is not achieved, leading to a net loss in total surplus.

Mutual Exchanges

A process where parties agree to transfer goods, services, or other items of value with each other.