Chapter 8: Problem 115
A researcher classified his subjects as innately right-handed or lefthanded by comparing thumbnail widths. He took a sample of 400 men and found that 80 men could be classified as left-handed according to his criterion. Estimate the proportion of all males in the population who would test to be left-handed using a \(95 \%\) confidence interval.
Short Answer
Step by step solution
Calculate the proportion of left-handed men in the sample
Identify the confidence level
Calculate the standard error
Determine the critical value
Calculate the margin of error
Calculate the confidence interval
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Key Concepts
These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.
Sample Proportion
To find the sample proportion, simply divide the number of left-handed men, which is 80, by the total sample size, which is 400. This gives us:
- Sample Proportion = \( \frac{80}{400} = 0.2 \)
- This value, 0.2, indicates that 20% of the sample is left-handed.
Standard Error
To calculate it, use the formula:
- \[ SE = \sqrt{\frac{p(1-p)}{n}} \]
- Where \(p\) is the sample proportion (0.2 in our case) and \(n\) is the sample size, 400.
- \[ SE = \sqrt{\frac{0.2 \times 0.8}{400}} = 0.02 \]
- A standard error of 0.02 indicates a relatively small amount of potential variation from the sample proportion.
Margin of Error
To calculate the margin of error, multiply the critical value (z-score) by the standard error:
- Margin of Error = \( z \times SE \)
- For a 95% confidence interval, the z-score is typically 1.96.
- Given \( SE = 0.02 \), the margin of error is \( 1.96 \times 0.02 = 0.0392 \).
Z-score
The z-score connects our sample's findings to the standard normal distribution.
For a 95% confidence level, the z-score we use is 1.96.
- This value comes from standard normal distribution tables, indicating that approximately 95% of the data falls within 1.96 standard deviations of the mean.
- The z-score helps ensure that our confidence interval captures the true population parameter 95% of the time.