Trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange is heaviest during the first half hour

(early morning) and last half hour (late afternoon) of the trading day. The early morning trading volumes (millions of shares) for 13 days in January and February are shown here

(Barron’s, January 23, 2006; February 13, 2006; and February 27, 2006).

214 163 265 194 180 202 198 212 201 174 171 211 211 The probability distribution of trading volume is approximately normal.

a. Compute the mean and standard deviation to use as estimates of the population mean and standard deviation.

b. What is the probability that, on a randomly selected day, the early morning trading volume will be less than 180 million shares?

c. What is the probability that, on a randomly selected day, the early morning trading volume will exceed 230 million shares?

d. How many shares would have to be traded for the early morning trading volume on a particular day to be among the busiest 5% of days?