1. Bass Fishing The pH factor is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of water. A fishing expert states that the best chance of catching bass occurs when the pH of the water is between 7.5 and 7.9.22 Suppose you suspect that acid rain is lowering the pH of your favorite fishing spot and you wish to determine whether the pH is less than 7.5.

a. State the alternative and null hypotheses that you would choose for a statistical test.

b. Does the alternative hypothesis in part a imply a onetailed or a two-tailed test? Explain.

c. Suppose that a random sample of 30 water specimens gave pH readings with x = 7.3 and s 5 .2. Just glancing at the data, do you think that the difference x − 7.5 5 − .2 is large enough to indicate that the mean pH of the water samples is less than 7.5? (Do not conduct the test.)

d. Now conduct a statistical test of the hypotheses in part a and state your conclusions. Test using a 5.05.

Compare your statistically based decision with your intuitive decision in part c.