Exam 8: Confidence Interval Estimation

SCENARIO 8-11 A poll was conducted by the marketing department of a video game company to determine the popularity of a new game that was targeted to be launched in three months.Telephone interviews with 1,500 young adults were conducted which revealed that 49% said they would purchase the new game.The margin of error was ±3 percentage points. -Referring to Scenario 8-11,the sampling error is 3%.

The t distribution approaches the standardized normal distribution when the number of degrees of freedom increases.

SCENARIO 8-3 To become an actuary,it is necessary to pass a series of 10 exams,including the most important one,an exam in probability and statistics.An insurance company wants to estimate the mean score on this exam for actuarial students who have enrolled in a special study program.They take a sample of 8 actuarial students in this program and determine that their scores are: 2,5,8,8,7,6,5,and 7.This sample will be used to calculate a 90% confidence interval for the mean score for actuarial students in the special study program. -Referring to Scenario 8-3,a 90% confidence interval for the mean score of actuarial students in the special program is from _____to_____ .

SCENARIO 8-6 After an extensive advertising campaign,the manager of a company wants to estimate the proportion of potential customers that recognize a new product.She samples 120 potential consumers and finds that 54 recognize this product.She uses this sample information to obtain a 95% confidence interval that goes from 0.36 to 0.54. -Referring to Scenario 8-6,the parameter of interest is 54/120 = 0.45.

SCENARIO 8-2 A quality control engineer is interested in the mean length of sheet insulation being cut automatically by machine.The desired mean length of the insulation is 12 feet.It is known that the standard deviation in the cutting length is 0.15 feet.A sample of 70 cut sheets yields a mean length of 12.14 feet.This sample will be used to obtain a 99% confidence interval for the mean length cut by machine. -Referring to Scenario 8-2,the confidence interval goes from_____ to_____ .

SCENARIO 8-7 A hotel chain wants to estimate the mean number of rooms rented daily in a given month.The population of rooms rented daily is assumed to be normally distributed for each month with a standard deviation of 240 rooms.During February,a sample of 25 days has a sample mean of 370 rooms. -Referring to Scenario 8-7,a 99% confidence interval for the mean number of rooms rented daily in a given month is from _____to_____ .

SCENARIO 8-9 A university wanted to find out the percentage of students who felt comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students.A survey of 2,800 students was conducted and the students were asked if they felt comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students.The results were 1,344 answered "Yes" and 1,456 answered "no". -Referring to Scenario 8-9,the parameter of interest is the proportion of the student population who feel comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students.

SCENARIO 8-9 A university wanted to find out the percentage of students who felt comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students.A survey of 2,800 students was conducted and the students were asked if they felt comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students.The results were 1,344 answered "Yes" and 1,456 answered "no". -Referring to Scenario 8-9,a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of the student population who feel comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students is narrower than a 99% confidence interval.

SCENARIO 8-8 The president of a university would like to estimate the proportion of the student population that owns a personal computer.In a sample of 500 students,417 own a personal computer. -Referring to Scenario 8-8,it is possible that the 99% confidence interval calculated from the data will not contain the proportion of the student population who own a personal computer.

The t distribution allows the calculation of confidence intervals for means for small samples when the population variance is not known,regardless of the shape of the distribution in the population.

SCENARIO 8-10 A sales and marketing management magazine conducted a survey on salespeople cheating on their expense reports and other unethical conduct.In the survey on 200 managers,58% of the managers have caught salespeople cheating on an expense report,50% have caught salespeople working a second job on company time,22% have caught salespeople listing a "strip bar" as a restaurant on an expense report,and 19% have caught salespeople giving a kickback to a customer. -Referring to Scenario 8-10,it is possible that the 95% confidence interval calculated from the data will not contain the population proportion of managers who have caught salespeople cheating on an expense report.

The t distribution

The width of a confidence interval estimate for a proportion will be

SCENARIO 8-6 After an extensive advertising campaign,the manager of a company wants to estimate the proportion of potential customers that recognize a new product.She samples 120 potential consumers and finds that 54 recognize this product.She uses this sample information to obtain a 95% confidence interval that goes from 0.36 to 0.54. -Referring to Scenario 8-6,95% of the people will recognize the product between 36% and 54% of the time.

The sampling error can either be positive or negative.

Suppose a department store wants to estimate the mean age of the customers of its contemporary apparel department,correct to within 2 years,with level of confidence equal to 95%.Management believes that the standard deviation is 8 years.The sample size they should take is .

SCENARIO 8-9 A university wanted to find out the percentage of students who felt comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students.A survey of 2,800 students was conducted and the students were asked if they felt comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students.The results were 1,344 answered "Yes" and 1,456 answered "no". -Referring to Scenario 8-9,the sampling error of a 99% confidence interval for the proportion of student population who feel comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students is .

SCENARIO 8-4 The actual voltages of power packs labeled as 12 volts are as follows: 11.77,11.90,11.64,11.84,12.13,11.99,and 11.77. -Referring to Scenario 8-4,it is possible that the 99% confidence interval calculated from the data will not contain the mean voltage for the sample.

SCENARIO 8-5 A sample of salary offers (in thousands of dollars)given to management majors is: 48,51,46,52,47,48,47,50,51,and 59.Using this data to obtain a 95% confidence interval resulted in an interval from 47.19 to 52.61. -Referring to Scenario 8-5,a 99% confidence interval for the mean of the population from the same sample would be wider than 47.19 to 52.61.

SCENARIO 8-5 A sample of salary offers (in thousands of dollars)given to management majors is: 48,51,46,52,47,48,47,50,51,and 59.Using this data to obtain a 95% confidence interval resulted in an interval from 47.19 to 52.61. -Referring to Scenario 8-5,the confidence interval obtained is valid only if the distribution of the population of salary offers is normal.