Class Exercise on Confidence Interval

Holmes et al (2018) (p. 355) Use the following information to answer the next six exercises: One
hundred eight Americans were surveyed to determine the number of hours they spend watching
television each month. It was revealed that they watched an average of 151 hours each month with a
standard deviation of 32 hours. Assume that the underlying population distribution is normal.

6. Identify the following:

a. x = 151

b. s x = 2

c. n = 108

d. n-1 = 107

7. Define the random variable X in words. X = Number of hours Americans watch TV monthly

8. Define the random variable X in words. X = Average number of hours a sample of 108 Americans
watch per month

9. Which distribution should you use for this problem? Normal Distribution

10. Construct a 99% confidence interval for the population mean hours spent watching television per
month. (a) State the confidence interval, (b) sketch the graph, and (c) calculate the error bound.

The direct CLT approach:

a) The 99% confidence interval is 143.07 <  <158.93.

The solution in the textbook is slightly different. I think that have used:

x−t
v,
α
2
( )
s
√n
≤ μ ≤ x+ t α
v, ( )s
2 √n

But since 108 is much larger than 30, it is okay to use Normal.

b) Graph
c) The error bound is 7.93.

Alternative approach:

X −Z α
2
( )
σ
√n
≤ μ≤ X +Zα
σ
2 √n
( )
151−2.576
( √32108 )≤ μ ≤151+2.576 ( √32108 )
151−7.93 ≤ μ ≤151+7.93

143.07 <  <158.93

Holmes et al (2018) (p. 346) “Try It” 8.5 You do a study of hypnotherapy to determine how effective it is
in increasing the number of hours of sleep subjects get each night. You measure hours of sleep for 12
subjects with the following results. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the mean number of hours
slept for the population (assumed normal) from which you took the data.

8.2; 9.1; 7.7; 8.6; 6.9; 11.2; 10.1; 9.9; 8.9; 9.2; 7.5; 10.5

Alpha = 1-0.95 = 0.05

Alpha/2 = 0.025

df = v = 12-1 = 11

Apply this formula: x−t

v,
α
2
( √sn ) ≤ μ ≤ x+ t ( √sn )
v,
α
2

8.9833−2.2010
( 1.2904
√12 ) ≤ μ ≤8.9833 +2.2010
( √ 12 )
1.2904

8.9833−0.8199 ≤ μ ≤ 8.9833+0.8199

8.1634 ≤ μ ≤ 9.8032

Holmes et al (2018) (p. 350) “Try It” 8.8 A student polls his school to see if students in the school district
are for or against the new legislation regarding school uniforms. She surveys 600 students and finds that
480 are against the new legislation.

a. Compute a 90% confidence interval for the true percent of students who are against the new
legislation, and interpret the confidence interval.

Apply this formula: p −Z α

P’ = 480/600 = 0.8
'

2 √ p' q'
n √
≤ p ≤ p' + Z α
2
p' q '
n

Alpha = 1-0.9 = 0.1

Alpha/2 = 0.05
 0.8−1.645
0.8 ×0.2
600 √≤ p ≤ 0.8+1.645
600 √
0.8 × 0.2

0.8−1.645
0.8 ×0.2
600 √≤ p ≤ 0.8+1.645
0.7731 < p < 0.8269
600 √
0.8 × 0.2

There is a 90% chance that this interval contains the true population proportion.

b. In a sample of 300 students, 68% said they own an iPod and a smart phone. Compute a 97%
confidence interval for the true percent of students who own an iPod and a smartphone.

'
Apply this formula: p −Z α

Alpha = 1 – 0.97 = 0.03

2 √ p' q'
n √
≤ p ≤ p' + Z α
2
p' q'
n

Alpha/2 = 0.015

0.68−2.1701
√ 0.68 ×0.32
300 √
≤ p ≤ 0.68+2.1701
0.68 ×0.32
300

0.6216 ≤ p ≤ 0.7384

Holmes et al (2018) (p. 352) “Try It” 8.9 Suppose an internet marketing company wants to determine
the current percentage of customers who click on ads on their smartphones. How many customers
should the company survey in order to be 90% confident that the estimated proportion is within five
percentage points of the true population proportion of customers who click on ads on their
smartphones?

e = 0.05

Since p’ is not given, to be conservative, we assume that p = 0.5. Therefore, q = 0.5.

alpha = 1-0.9 = 0.1

alpha/2 = 0.05
2
Z α pq
Apply this formula: n= 2

e2

n = (1.6452 x 0.5 x 0.5)/0.052 = 270.55

The company should survey 271 customers.