Chapter 8.2, Problem 23BSC

Testing Claims About Proportions. In Exercises 9-32, test the given claim. Identify the null hypothesis, alternative hypothesis, test statistic, P-value, or critical value(s), then state the conclusion about the null hypothesis, as well as the final conclusion that addresses the original claim. Use the P-value method unless your instructor specifies otherwise. Use the normal distribution as an approximation to the binomial distribution, as described in Part 1 of this section.

23. Cell Phones and Cancer In a study of 420,095 Danish cell phone users, 135 subjects developed cancer of the brain or nervous system (based on data from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute as reported in USA Today). Test the claim of a somewhat common belief that such cancers are affected by cell phone use. That is, test the claim that cell phone users develop cancer of the brain or nervous system at a rate that is different from the rate of 0.0340% for people who do not use cell phones. Because this issue has such great importance, use a 0.005 significance level. Based on these results, should cell phone users be concerned about cancer of the brain or nervous system?