The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is required by law to publish a report on assisted reproductive technology (ART). ART includes all fertility treatments in which both the egg and the sperm are used. These procedures generally involve removing eggs from a patient’s ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the patient’s body or giving them to another patient.
You are helping to prepare a CDC report on young ART patients and select at random 6 ART cycles of patients under 35 years of age for a special review. None of the cycles resulted in a live birth. Your manager feels it is impossible to select at random 10 ART cycles that do not result in a live birth. Use the pie chart at the right and your knowledge of statistics to determine whether your manager is correct.

EXERCISES

1. How Would You Do It?

(a) How would you determine whether your manager is correct, that it is impossible to select at random six ART cycles that do not result in a live birth?

(b) What probability distribution do you think best describes the situation? Do you think the distribution of the number of live births is discrete or continuous? Explain your reasoning.

2. Answering the Question
Write an explanation that answers the question, “Is it possible to select at random six ART cycles that do not result in a live birth?” Include in your explanation the appropriate probability distribution and your calculation of the probability of no live births in six ART cycles.

3. Suspicious Samples?
A lab worker tells you that the samples below were selected at random. Using the graph at the right, which of the samples would you consider suspicious? Would you believe that the samples were selected at random? Explain your reasoning.

(a) A sample of 8 ART cycles among patients ages 35 through 37, one of which resulted in live birth

(b) A sample of 10 ART cycles among patients ages 43 and older, two of which resulted in live birth

Transcribed Image Text:

Results of ART Cycles for Patients Under 35 Using Own Eggs -Eggs not retreived 5.6% Eggs retreived but no birth 42.4% Live births 52%