Question

question 4 of 8, step 1 of 3
correct
a pharmaceutical company needs to know if its new cholesterol drug, praxor, is effective at lowering cholesterol levels. it believes that people who take praxor will average a greater decrease in cholesterol level than people taking a placebo. after the experiment is complete, the researchers find that the 44 participants in the treatment group lowered their cholesterol levels by a mean of 20.7 points with a standard deviation of 5.1 points. the 34 participants in the control group lowered their cholesterol levels by a mean of 18.6 points with a standard deviation of 1.3 points. assume that the population variances are not equal and test the companys claim at the 0.02 level. let the treatment group be population 1 and let the control group be population 2.
step 1 of 3: state the null and alternative hypotheses for the test. fill in the blank below.
$h_0:mu_1 = mu_2$
$h_a:mu_1$ ____ $mu_2$
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Explanation:

Step1: Understand the claim

The company believes people taking Praxor (treatment group, Population 1) will have a greater decrease in cholesterol level than those taking placebo (control group, Population 2).

Step2: Determine the alternative hypothesis

Since we want to test if the mean decrease in Population 1 is greater than that in Population 2, the alternative hypothesis $H_a$ should be $\mu_1>\mu_2$. The null hypothesis $H_0$ is the statement of no - effect, which is $\mu_1 = \mu_2$.

Answer:

$H_0:\mu_1=\mu_2$
$H_a:\mu_1>\mu_2$