Constructing Confidence Intervals

A research group wishes to estimate the mean amount of time (in hours) that members of a fitness center spend exercising each week. They want to estimate the mean within a margin of error of 0.5 hours with a 95% level of confidence. Previous data suggests that the standard deviation of the population is 2.2. Which of the following is the smallest sample size they could use?

• 60
• 75
• 90
• 180

You want to construct a 99 percent confidence interval for the mean score of all students who took the calculus final. Thirty randomly selected students took the calculus final, with a sample mean was 92 and the standard deviation was 9.4. What name would you write in the PLAN step?

• sample t interval

• interval for u

• one sample z interval for u

• one sample t interval for u

Which of the following does NOT have an affect on the width of a confidence interval?

• Sample mean
• Critical t value
• Sample standard deviation
• Sample size

The football coach randomly selected ten players and timed how long each player took to perform a certain drill. The times (in minutes) were: 13.2,  5.1,  7.5,  8.0,  12.7,  7.6,  13.8,  14.5,  7.7, and 10.5.  Determine a 95 percent confidence interval for the mean time for all players.

• 12.30 < μ < 7.82
•  7.82 < μ < 12.30
• 7.72 < μ < 12.40
• 12.40 < μ < 7.72

Find the critical t value value for a 99% confidence interval with a sample of 23 people.

• 1.714
• 1.711
• 2.576
• 2.818

A sample of 30 women finds the mean height to be 62.3 in and the standard deviation to be 1.5 in. Find the margin of error of women's heights with a 95% CL.

• 1.699
• 0.56
• 0.537
• 19.325

A sample of 20 cupcakes found the interval for average calories to be (150, 350). Which is the correct interpretation of the 95% confidence interval?

• We are 95% confident that the true mean caloric content can be found with a sample of 150 to 350 cupcakes.

• We are 95% confident that the interval (150, 350) captures the true average caloric content.

• We are 95% confident that a sample of 20 cupcakes will find 250 calories per cupcake.

• None of these are correct.

A quality control specialist at a glass factory must estimate the mean clarity rating for a new batch of glass using a sample of 18 glass sheets from the batch. Past investigations show that clarity ratings are normally distributed. The specialist decides to use a t-distribution rather than a z-distribution because ...

• The t distribution is more accurate than a z distribution.

• Clarity ratings for the entire bacth are normally distributed.

• The t-distribution will create a narrower interval than z.

• The standard deviation for the population is unknown.

Which of the following does NOT have an affect on the width of a confidence interval?

• Sample mean
• t*
• Sample standard deviation
• Sample size

Which of the following changes to a study would result in a narrower confidence interval?

• increasing the confidence level, increasing the sample size
• decreasing the confidence level, decreasing the sample size
• increasing the confidence level, decreasing the sample size
• decreasing the confidence level, increasing the sample size.