A magician has a coin that may or may not be fair. The results of 30 flips of the coin are H H T H T H H T H H T H H T H T H H H T T T T T H H H H H T. To determine if the coin is fair using the Wald-Wolfowitz runs test, the competing hypotheses are ________. A) H₀: Heads and tails do not occur randomly; H_A: Heads and tails occur randomly B) H₀: Heads and tails occur randomly; H_A: Heads and tails do not occur randomly C) H₀: Heads and tails occur randomly; H_A: Heads are more likely D) H₀: Heads and tails occur randomly; H_A: Tails are more likely

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Wald-Wolfowitz runs test is used to test if a sequence of binary outcomes (in this case, heads and tails) occur randomly or not. The null hypothesis is that the sequence is random, while the alternative hypothesis is that it is not. Thus, the competing hypotheses are H₀: Heads and tails occur randomly (null) versus H_A: Heads and tails do not occur randomly (alternative). Choice B correctly represents these hypotheses.

A Magician Has a Coin That May or May Not