If you wish to estimate a population mean with a sampling error of SE = .3 using a 95% confidence interval, and you know from prior sampling that σ2is approximately equal to 7.2, how many observations would have to be included in your sample?

Short Answer

Expert verified

Sample of size n=18 observations Is required.

Step by step solution

01

Given information

The sampling error is 0.3, level of significance is 5% and σ2=7.2.

02

Finding the sample size

SE=0.3,α=0.05,andσ2=7.2

The standard deviation is,

σ=7.2=2.6833

The sample size required obtained by,

zα2σn=SEn=zα2σSE2n=z0.025×2.68330.3n=1.960×2.68330.3FromStandardNormalTablen=5.25930.3n=17.531n18

Therefore, 18 observations have to be included in the sample.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

Employees with substance abuse problems. According to the New Jersey Governor’s Council for a Drug-Free Workplace Report, 50 of the 72 sampled businesses that are members of the council admitted that they had employees with substance abuse problems. At the time of the survey, 251 New Jersey businesses were members of the Governor’s Council. Use the finite population correction factor to find a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of all New Jersey Governor’s Council business members who have employees with substance abuse problems. Interpret the resulting interval.

A random sample of 70 observations from a normally distributed population possesses a sample mean equal to 26.2 and a sample standard deviation equal to 4.1.

a. Find an approximate 95% confidence interval for

b. What do you mean when you say that a confidence coefficient is .95?

c. Find an approximate 99% confidence interval for

d. What happens to the width of a confidence interval as the value of the confidence coefficient is increased while the sample size is held fixed?

e. Would your confidence intervals of parts a and c be valid if the distribution of the original population was not normal? Explain

Explain the difference between an interval estimator and a point estimator for μ

Explain what is meant by the statement, “We are 95% confident that an interval estimate contains μ.

U.S. Postal Service’s performance. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) reports that 95% of first-class mail within the same city is delivered on time (i.e., within 2 days of the time of mailing). To gauge the USPS performance, Price Waterhouse monitored the delivery of first-class mail items between Dec. 10 and Mar. 3—the most difficult delivery season due to bad weather conditions and holidays. In a sample of 332,000 items, Price Waterhouse determined that 282,200 were delivered on time. Comment on the performance of USPS first-class mail service over this time period.

See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Math Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free