Question

Each year, all final year students take a mathematics exam. It is hypothesised that the population mean score for this test is 80. It is known that the population standard deviation of test scores is 13. A random sample of 23 students take the exam. The mean score for this group is 71. a)Calculate the 90% confidence interval for the population mean test score. Give your answers to 2 decimal places.

Answer 1

Answer:

The 90% confidence interval for the population mean test score is between 66.54 and 75.46.

Step-by-step explanation:

We have that to find our $\alpha$ level, that is the subtraction of 1 by the confidence interval divided by 2. So:

$\alpha = \frac{1 - 0.9}{2} = 0.05$

Now, we have to find z in the Ztable as such z has a pvalue of $1 - \alpha$.

That is z with a pvalue of $1 - 0.05 = 0.95$, so Z = 1.645.

Now, find the margin of error M as such

$M = z\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n}}$

In which $\sigma$ is the standard deviation of the population and n is the size of the sample.

$M = 1.645\frac{13}{\sqrt{23}} = 4.46$

The lower end of the interval is the sample mean subtracted by M. So it is 71 - 4.46 = 66.54

The upper end of the interval is the sample mean added to M. So it is 71 + 4.46 = 75.46

The 90% confidence interval for the population mean test score is between 66.54 and 75.46.