Exam 8: Confidence Interval Estimation

TABLE 8-14 A poll was conducted by the marketing department of a video game company to determine the popularity of a new game that was targeted to be launched in three months. Telephone interviews with 1,500 young adults were conducted which revealed that 49% said they would purchase the new game. The margin of error was ±3 percentage points. -Referring to Table 8-14, the sampling error is 3%.

TABLE 8-3 To become an actuary, it is necessary to pass a series of 10 exams, including the most important one, an exam in probability and statistics. An insurance company wants to estimate the mean score on this exam for actuarial students who have enrolled in a special study program. They take a sample of 8 actuarial students in this program and determine that their scores are: 2, 5, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5, and 7. This sample will be used to calculate a 90% confidence interval for the mean score for actuarial students in the special study program. -Referring to Table 8-3, it is possible that the confidence interval obtained will not contain the mean score for all actuarial students in the special study program.

TABLE 8-13 A sales and marketing management magazine conducted a survey of salespeople cheating on their expense reports and other unethical conduct. In the survey of 200 managers, 58% of the managers have caught salespeople cheating on an expense report, 50% have caught salespeople working a second job on company time, 22% have caught salespeople listing a "strip bar" as a restaurant on an expense report, and 19% have caught salespeople giving a kickback to a customer. -Referring to Table 8-13, construct a 95% confidence interval estimate of the population proportion of managers who have caught salespeople working a second job on company time.

TABLE 8-7 A hotel chain wants to estimate the mean number of rooms rented daily in a given month. The population of rooms rented daily is assumed to be normally distributed for each month with a standard deviation of 24 rooms. During February, a sample of 25 days has a sample mean of 37 rooms. -Referring to Table 8-7, we are 99% confident that the average number of rooms rented daily in a given month is somewhere between 24.64 and 49.36.

TABLE 8-14 A poll was conducted by the marketing department of a video game company to determine the popularity of a new game that was targeted to be launched in three months. Telephone interviews with 1,500 young adults were conducted which revealed that 49% said they would purchase the new game. The margin of error was ±3 percentage points. -Referring to Table 8-14, what is the needed sample size to obtain a 95% confidence interval estimate of the percentage of the targeted young adults who will purchase the new game by allowing the same level of margin of error?

TABLE 8-5 A sample of salary offers (in thousands of dollars) given to management majors is: 48, 51, 46, 52, 47, 48, 47, 50, 51, and 59. Using this data to obtain a 95% confidence interval resulted in an interval from 47.19 to 52.61. -Referring to Table 8-5, it is possible that the mean of the population is not between 47.19 and 52.61.

TABLE 8-14 A poll was conducted by the marketing department of a video game company to determine the popularity of a new game that was targeted to be launched in three months. Telephone interviews with 1,500 young adults were conducted which revealed that 49% said they would purchase the new game. The margin of error was ±3 percentage points. -Referring to Table 8-14, you are 99% confidence that the percentage of the targeted young adults who will purchase the new game is somewhere between 46% and 52%.

TABLE 8-4 The actual voltages of power packs labeled as 12 volts are as follows: 11.77, 11.90, 11.64, 11.84, 12.13, 11.99, and 11.77. -Referring to Table 8-4, a confidence interval estimate of the population mean would only be valid if the distribution of voltages is normal.

TABLE 8-2 A quality control engineer is interested in the mean length of sheet insulation being cut automatically by machine. The desired mean length of the insulation is 12 feet. It is known that the standard deviation in the cutting length is 0.15 feet. A sample of 70 cut sheets yields a mean length of 12.14 feet. This sample will be used to obtain a 99% confidence interval for the mean length cut by machine. -Referring to Table 8-2, the confidence interval goes from ________ to ________.

TABLE 8-6 After an extensive advertising campaign, the manager of a company wants to estimate the proportion of potential customers that recognize a new product. She samples 120 potential consumers and finds that 54 recognize this product. She uses this sample information to obtain a 95% confidence interval that goes from 0.36 to 0.54. -Referring to Table 8-6, this interval requires the use of the t distribution to obtain the confidence coefficient.

TABLE 8-11 A university wanted to find out the percentage of students who felt comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students. A survey of 2,800 students was conducted and the students were asked if they felt comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students. The results were 1,344 answered "Yes" and 1,456 answered "No." -Referring to Table 8-11, the sampling error of a 99% confidence interval for the proportion of student population who feel comfortable reporting cheating by their fellow students is ________.

It is desired to estimate the mean total compensation of CEOs in the Service industry. Data were randomly collected from 18 CEOs and the 95% confidence interval was calculated to be ($2,181,260, $5,836,180). Which of the following interpretations is correct?

TABLE 8-6 After an extensive advertising campaign, the manager of a company wants to estimate the proportion of potential customers that recognize a new product. She samples 120 potential consumers and finds that 54 recognize this product. She uses this sample information to obtain a 95% confidence interval that goes from 0.36 to 0.54. -Referring to Table 8-6, the parameter of interest is 54/120 = 0.45.

TABLE 8-13 A sales and marketing management magazine conducted a survey of salespeople cheating on their expense reports and other unethical conduct. In the survey of 200 managers, 58% of the managers have caught salespeople cheating on an expense report, 50% have caught salespeople working a second job on company time, 22% have caught salespeople listing a "strip bar" as a restaurant on an expense report, and 19% have caught salespeople giving a kickback to a customer. -Referring to Table 8-13, the sampling error of a 95% confidence interval estimate of the population proportion of managers who have caught salespeople giving a kickback to a customer is ________.

The head librarian at the Library of Congress has asked her assistant for an interval estimate of the mean number of books checked out each day. The assistant provides the following interval estimate: from 740 to 920 books per day. If the head librarian knows that the population standard deviation is 150 books checked out per day, and she asked her assistant for a 95% confidence interval, approximately how large a sample did her assistant use to determine the interval estimate?

The t distribution is used to construct confidence intervals for the population mean when the population standard deviation is unknown.

TABLE 8-4 The actual voltages of power packs labeled as 12 volts are as follows: 11.77, 11.90, 11.64, 11.84, 12.13, 11.99, and 11.77. -Referring to Table 8-4, a 99% confidence interval for the mean voltage of the power packs is from ________ to ________.

TABLE 8-7 A hotel chain wants to estimate the mean number of rooms rented daily in a given month. The population of rooms rented daily is assumed to be normally distributed for each month with a standard deviation of 24 rooms. During February, a sample of 25 days has a sample mean of 37 rooms. -Referring to Table 8-7, the sampling error of a 99% confidence interval for the mean number of rooms rented daily in a given month is ________.

TABLE 8-6 After an extensive advertising campaign, the manager of a company wants to estimate the proportion of potential customers that recognize a new product. She samples 120 potential consumers and finds that 54 recognize this product. She uses this sample information to obtain a 95% confidence interval that goes from 0.36 to 0.54. -Referring to Table 8-6, 95% of the time, the proportion of people that recognize the product will fall between 0.36 and 0.54.

TABLE 8-2 A quality control engineer is interested in the mean length of sheet insulation being cut automatically by machine. The desired mean length of the insulation is 12 feet. It is known that the standard deviation in the cutting length is 0.15 feet. A sample of 70 cut sheets yields a mean length of 12.14 feet. This sample will be used to obtain a 99% confidence interval for the mean length cut by machine. -Referring to Table 8-2, the critical value to use in obtaining the confidence interval is ________.