Question

We are studying the proportion of cities that have private garbage collector. We want a maximum error of 0.10 and a 95% confidence level, and tentatively estimate the proportion at 0.50. What is the minimum number of cities we need to contact?

Answer 1

Answer:

The minimum number of cities we need to contact is 96.

Step-by-step explanation:

In a sample with a number n of people surveyed with a probability of a success of $\pi$, and a confidence interval $1-\alpha$, we have the following confidence interval of proportions.

$\pi \pm z\sqrt{\frac{\pi(1-\pi)}{n}}$

In which

Z is the zscore that has a pvalue of $1 - \frac{\alpha}{2}$.

The margin of error is:

$M = z\sqrt{\frac{\pi(1-\pi)}{n}}$

95% confidence interval

So $\alpha = 0.05$, z is the value of Z that has a pvalue of $1 - \frac{0.05}{2} = 0.975$, so $Z = 1.96$.

In this problem, we have that:

$p = 0.5, M = 0.1$

$M = z\sqrt{\frac{\pi(1-\pi)}{n}}$

$0.1 = 1.96*\sqrt{\frac{0.5*0.5}{n}}$

$0.1\sqrt{n} = 0.98$

$\sqrt{n} = 9.8$

$(\sqrt{n})^{2} = (9.8)^{2}$

$n = 96$

The minimum number of cities we need to contact is 96.