High School

You intend to estimate a population mean [tex]\mu[/tex] from the following sample:

[tex]\[

\begin{array}{|r|r|r|r|}

\hline

89.3 & 107.4 & 62.5 & 86.2 \\

\hline

85.9 & 95.5 & 89.6 & 74.1 \\

\hline

122.5 & 49.2 & 83.9 & 67.0 \\

\hline

77.1 & 75.9 & 79.0 & 68.2 \\

\hline

93.7 & 82.1 & 78.7 & 61.8 \\

\hline

68.2 & 62.0 & 99.2 & 70.3 \\

\hline

88.4 & 81.5 & 100.8 & 76.1 \\

\hline

75.0 & 74.0 & 65.3 & 61.8 \\

\hline

91.5 & 79.5 & 83.3 & 57.0 \\

\hline

75.3 & 71.5 & 59.1 & 107.2 \\

\hline

82.0 & 71.6 & 57.9 & 60.7 \\

\hline

67.9 & 92.7 & 83.7 & 82.2 \\

\hline

88.7 & 104.1 & 98.1 & 74.7 \\

\hline

\end{array}

\][/tex]

Find the [tex]99.5\%[/tex] confidence interval. Enter your answer as a tri-linear inequality accurate to two decimal places (because the sample data are reported accurate to one decimal place).

[tex]\square \ \textless \ \mu \ \textless \ \square[/tex]

Answer :

Sure! To find the 99.5% confidence interval for the population mean [tex]\(\mu\)[/tex] based on the given sample, follow these steps:

1. Calculate the Sample Mean ([tex]\(\bar{x}\)[/tex]):
- Add up all the sample data values provided.
- Divide the sum by the total number of data points.

2. Find the Sample Standard Deviation (s):
- Subtract the sample mean from each data point and square the result.
- Sum up all these squared differences.
- Divide this sum by one less than the number of data points (this gives us the sample variance).
- Take the square root of the sample variance to find the standard deviation.

3. Determine the Standard Error (SE):
- Divide the sample standard deviation by the square root of the number of data points. This gives the standard error of the mean.

4. Find the Critical Value:
- Determine the critical value for a 99.5% confidence interval using the t-distribution because the sample size is relatively small and we do not know the population standard deviation.
- The critical value is found using the t-distribution table, with [tex]\( n-1 \)[/tex] degrees of freedom (where [tex]\( n \)[/tex] is the number of data points).

5. Calculate the Margin of Error (ME):
- Multiply the standard error by the critical value. This gives the margin of error.

6. Determine the Confidence Interval:
- Subtract the margin of error from the sample mean to get the lower bound of the confidence interval.
- Add the margin of error to the sample mean to get the upper bound of the confidence interval.

7. Result:
- Based on the calculations, the 99.5% confidence interval for the population mean [tex]\(\mu\)[/tex] is approximately [tex]\( 73.53 < \mu < 85.74 \)[/tex].

This interval tells us that we are 99.5% confident that the true population mean falls within this range.