Chapter 8: Problem 6
Briefly explain how the width of a confidence interval decreases with a decrease in the confidence level. Give an example.
/*! This file is auto-generated */ .wp-block-button__link{color:#fff;background-color:#32373c;border-radius:9999px;box-shadow:none;text-decoration:none;padding:calc(.667em + 2px) calc(1.333em + 2px);font-size:1.125em}.wp-block-file__button{background:#32373c;color:#fff;text-decoration:none}
Learning Materials
Features
Discover
Chapter 8: Problem 6
Briefly explain how the width of a confidence interval decreases with a decrease in the confidence level. Give an example.
All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.
Get started for free
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey about cell phone use noted that \(14.7 \%\) of U.S. households are wireless-only, which means that the household members use only cell phones and do not have a landline. Suppose that this percentage is based on a random sample of 855 U.S. households (Source: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr014.pdf). a. Construct a \(95 \%\) confidence interval for the proportion of all U.S. households that are wireless-only. b. Explain why we need to construct a confidence interval. Why can we not simply say that \(14.7 \%\) of all U.S. households are wireless-only?
A company randomly selected nine office employees and secretly monitored their computers for one month. The times (in hours) spent by these employees using their computers for non-job-related activities (playing games, personal communications, etc.) during this month are given below. \(\begin{array}{lllllllll}7 & 1 & 29 & 8 & 1 & 14 & 1 & 41 & 6\end{array}\) Assuming that such times for all employees are normally distributed, make a \(95 \%\) confidence interval for the corresponding population mean for all employees of this company.
What is the point estimator of the population proportion, \(p\) ?
A random sample of 36 mid-sized cars tested for fuel consumption gave a mean of \(26.4\) miles per gallon with a standard deviation of \(2.3\) miles per gallon. a. Find a \(99 \%\) confidence interval for the population mean, \(\mu\). b. Suppose the confidence interval obtained in part a is too wide. How can the width of this interval be reduced? Describe all possible alternatives. Which alternative is the best and why?
When one is attempting to determine the required sample size for estimating a population mean, and the information on the population standard deviation is not available, it may be feasible to take a small preliminary sample and use the sample standard deviation to estimate the required sample size, \(n .\) Suppose that we want to estimate \(\mu\), the mean commuting distance for students at a community college, to within 1 mile with a confidence level of \(95 \%\). A random sample of 20 students yields a standard deviation of \(4.1\) miles. Use this value of the sample standard deviation, \(s\), to estimate the required sample size, \(n\). Assume that the corresponding population has a normal distribution.
What do you think about this solution?
We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.