Constructing Confidence Intervals

A 90% confidence interval for a population mean is determined to be 800 to 900. If the confidence is increased to 95% confidence while the sample statistics and sample size remain the same, the confidence interval

• becomes wider
• becomes narrower
• does not change

Which z-value is used for a 95% confidence interval?

• 1.65
• 1.96
• 2.58
• 2.33

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.

A 90% confidence interval for the average salary of all CEOs in the electronics industry was constructed using the results of a random survey of 45 CEOs. The interval was ($139,048, $154,144). Give a practical interpretation of the interval.

• 90% of the sampled CEOs have salaries that fell in the interval $139,048 to $154,144
• We are 90% confident that the mean salary of all CEOs in the electronics industry falls in the interval $139,048 to $154,144. 
• 90% of all CEOs in the electronics industry have salaries that fall between $139,048 to $154,144
• We are 90% confident that the mean salary of the sampled CEOs falls in the interval $139,048 to $154,144.

A sample of 40 people owned an average of 1.35 apple products. It is known from a previous study that the population standard deviation of apple product ownership is 0.63 products. Construct a 95% confidence interval.

• (1.11, 1.58)
• (1.15, 1.55)
• (1.19, 1.51)
• (1.09, 1.61)

A researcher wishes to determine the mean energy consumption of a new light bulb. She takes a random sample of 41 bulbs and determines that the mean consumption is 1.3 watts per hour with a standard deviation of 0.7. When constructing a 97% confidence interval, which would be the most appropriate value of the critical value?  

• 2.072
• 2.25
• 2.704
• 2.807

A local bank needs information concerning the savings account balances of its customers. A random sample of 15 accounts was checked. The mean balance was $686.75 with a standard deviation of $256.20. Find a 98% confidence interval for the true mean. Assume that the account balances are normally distributed. Round to the nearest cent. 

• ($513.17, $860.33)
• ($510.07, $863.43) 
• ($515.20, $858.30)
• ($517.41, $856.09)

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 is 2.2. Which of the following is the smallest sample size they could use?

• 60
• 75
• 90
• 180

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

A random sample of 100 visitors to a popular theme park spent an average of $142 on the trip with a standard deviation of $47.5. Which of the following would be the 98% confidence interval for the mean money spent by all visitors to this theme park?

• ($130.77, $153.23)
• ($132.77, $151.43)
• ($132.69, $151.31)
• ($140.88, $143.12)