Contingency Tables · Exercise 8

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine, reported about a study of smokers in California and Hawaii. In one part of the report, the self-reported ethnicity and smoking levels per day were given. Of the people smoking at most ten cigarettes per day, there were 9,886 Black people, 2,745 Native Hawaiian people, 12,831 Hispanic/Latino people, 8,378 Japanese people, and 7,650 White people. Of the people smoking 11 to 20 cigarettes per day, there were 6,514 Black people, 3,062 Native Hawaiian people, 4,932 Hispanic/Latino people, 10,680 Japanese people, and 9,877 White people. Of the people smoking 21 to 30 cigarettes per day, there were 1,671 Black people, 1,419 Native Hawaiian people, 1,406 Hispanic/Latino people, 4,715 Japanese people, and 6,062 White people. Of the people smoking at least 31 cigarettes per day, there were 759 Black people, 788 Native Hawaiian people, 800 Hispanic/Latino people, 2,305 Japanese people, and 3,970 White people.

In words, explain what it means to pick one person from the study who is “Japanese American AND smokes 21 to 30 cigarettes per day.” Also, find the probability.

OpenStax, Introductory Statistics 2e · §3.4 Contingency Tables · Exercise 8