Life tests performed on a sample of 13 batteries of a new model indicated:

(1) an average life of 75 months, and

(2) a standard deviation of 9 months. Other battery models, produced by similar processes, have normally distributed life spans. The 90% confidence interval for the population mean life of the new model is:

Respuesta :

Answer:

The 90% confidence interval would be given by (70.557;79.443)  

Step-by-step explanation:

A confidence interval is "a range of values that’s likely to include a population value with a certain degree of confidence. It is often expressed a % whereby a population means lies between an upper and lower interval".  

The margin of error is the range of values below and above the sample statistic in a confidence interval.  

Normal distribution, is a "probability distribution that is symmetric about the mean, showing that data near the mean are more frequent in occurrence than data far from the mean".  

[tex]\bar X=75[/tex] represent the sample mean  

[tex]\mu[/tex] population mean (variable of interest)  

s=9 represent the sample standard deviation  

n=13 represent the sample size  

Calculate the confidence interval

The confidence interval for the mean is given by the following formula:  

[tex]\bar X \pm t_{\alpha/2}\frac{s}{\sqrt{n}}[/tex] (1)  

In order to calculate the critical value [tex]t_{\alpha/2}[/tex] we need to find first the degrees of freedom, given by:  

[tex]df=n-1=13-1=12[/tex]  

Since the confidence is 0.90 or 90%, the value of [tex]\alpha=0.1[/tex] and [tex]\alpha/2 =0.05[/tex], and we can use excel, a calculator or a table to find the critical value. The excel command would be: "=-T.INV(0.05,12)".And we see that [tex]t_{\alpha/2}=1.78[/tex].

Now we have everything in order to replace into formula (1):  

[tex]75-1.78\frac{9}{\sqrt{13}}=70.557[/tex]  

[tex]75+1.78\frac{9}{\sqrt{13}}=79.443[/tex]  

So on this case the 90% confidence interval would be given by (70.557;79.443)  

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