Confidence Intervals for Sample Means

A sample of 20 cupcakes found the interval for average calories to be (150, 350). Which is the correct interpretation of the 95% confidence interval?

• We are 95% confident that the true mean caloric content can be found with a sample of 150 to 350 cupcakes.

• We are 95% confident that the interval (150, 350) captures the true average caloric content.

• We are 95% confident that a sample of 20 cupcakes will find 250 calories per cupcake.

• None of these are correct.

A quality control specialist at a glass factory must estimate the mean clarity rating for a new batch of glass using a sample of 18 glass sheets from the batch. Past investigations show that clarity ratings are normally distributed. The specialist decides to use a t-distribution rather than a z-distribution because ...

• The sample size is too small for a z-distribution
• Clarity ratings for the entire bacth are normally distributed.  
• The t-distribution will create a narrower interval than z.
• The standard deviation for the batch is unknown.

Thirty randomly selected students took the calculus final. If the sample mean was 92 and the standard deviation was 9.4, construct a 99 percent confidence interval for the mean score of all students from which the sample was gathered.

• 89.08 < μ < 94.92

• 87.27 < μ < 96.73

• 87.29 < μ < 96.71

• 87.77 < μ < 96.23

Which of the following does NOT have an affect on the width of a confidence interval?

• Sample mean
• t*
• Sample standard deviation
• Sample size

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.

In a crash test of 15 troopers, collision repair costs are found to have a distribution that is approximately normal, with a mean of $1800 and a standard deviation of $950. Construct a 99% confidence interval for the repair cost for the population.

• (1070, 2530)

• (1273, 2326)

• (1799, 1801)

• (1776, 1823)

An IQ test was given to a simple random sample of 75 students at a certain college. The sample mean score was 105.2. Scores on this test are known to have a standard deviation of 10. It is desired to construct a 90% confidence interval for the mean IQ scores of the students at the college.

Find the critical value.

• 0.90

• 1.155

• 1.645

• ±1.645

The lifetime of a certain type of batter is known to be normally distributed with a standard deviation of 20 hours. A sample of 50 batteries had a mean lifetime of 120.1 hours. It is desired to construct a 99% confidence interval for the mean lifetime of this type of battery.

What is the Confidence Interval to one decimal place?

• (114.5, 125.6)

• (112.8, 127.4)

• (112.82, 127.38)

• (114.56, 125.64)

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 of the population 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