Chapter 10.4, Problem 47E

The paper “Playing Active Video Games Increases Energy Expenditure in Children” (Pediatrics [2009]: 534–539) describes an interesting investigation of the possible cardiovascular benefits of active video games. Mean heart rate for healthy boys age 10 to 13 after walking on a treadmill at 2.6 km/hour for 6 minutes is 98 beats per minute (bpm). For each of 14 boys, heart rate was measured after 15 minutes of playing Wii Bowling. The resulting sample mean and standard deviation were 101 bpm and 15 bpm, respectively. For purposes of this exercise, assume that it is reasonable to regard the sample of boys as representative of boys age 10 to 13 and that the distribution of heart rates after 15 minutes of Wii Bowling is approximately normal.

1. a. Does the sample provide convincing evidence that the mean heart rate after 15 minutes of Wii Bowling is different from the known mean heart rate after 6 minutes walking on the treadmill? Carry out a hypothesis test using α = 0.01.
2. b. The known resting mean heart rate for boys in this age group is 66 bpm. Is there convincing evidence that the mean heart rate after Wii Bowling for 15 minutes is higher than the known mean resting heart rate for boys of this age? Use α = 0.01. (Hint: See Example 10.15.)
3. c. Based on the outcomes of the tests in Parts (a) and (b), write a paragraph comparing the benefits of treadmill walking and Wii Bowling in terms of raising heart rate over the resting heart rate.