From USA TODAY's Today in the Sky with Ben Mutzabaugh, we found information on the on-time performance of passenger flights arriving in the United States during June 2008. The five airlines with the highest percentage of ontime arrivals were Hawaiian Airlines (H), Pinnacle Airlines (P), Skywest Airlines (S), Alaska Airlines (A), and Atlantic Southeast Airlines (E).
a. List the 10 possible samples (without replacement) of size 3 that can be obtained from the population of five airlines. Use the parenthetical abbreviations in your list.
b. If a simple random sampling procedure is used to obtain a sample of three of these five airlines, what are the chances that it is the first sample on your list in part (a)? the second sample? the tenth sample?
c. Describe three methods for obtaining a simple random sample of three of these five airlines.
d. Use one of the methods that you described in part (c) to obtain a simple random sample of three of these five airlines.