A retailer wants to estimate the average amount spent by customers on holiday shopping. In a random sample of 50 customers, the average amount spent was $250, and the population standard deviation is known to be $40. Construct and interpret an 80% confidence interval for the average amount spent by all customers.
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction to Statistics53m
- 2. Describing Data with Tables and Graphs2h 1m
- 3. Describing Data Numerically1h 48m
- 4. Probability2h 26m
- 5. Binomial Distribution & Discrete Random Variables2h 55m
- 6. Normal Distribution & Continuous Random Variables1h 48m
- 7. Sampling Distributions & Confidence Intervals: Mean2h 8m
- 8. Sampling Distributions & Confidence Intervals: Proportion1h 20m
- 9. Hypothesis Testing for One Sample2h 23m
- 10. Hypothesis Testing for Two Samples3h 25m
- 11. Correlation1h 6m
- 12. Regression1h 4m
- 13. Chi-Square Tests & Goodness of Fit1h 30m
- 14. ANOVA1h 4m
7. Sampling Distributions & Confidence Intervals: Mean
Confidence Intervals for Population Mean
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Join thousands of students who trust us to help them ace their exams!Watch the first videoMultiple Choice
Find the critical value t2αfor a 95% confidence interval given a sample size of 6.
A
0.025
B
5
C
1.286
D
2.571

1
Identify the degrees of freedom for the t-distribution. The degrees of freedom (df) is calculated as the sample size minus one. For a sample size of 6, df = 6 - 1 = 5.
Determine the level of significance, α, for a 95% confidence interval. Since the confidence level is 95%, the level of significance α is 1 - 0.95 = 0.05.
Divide the level of significance by 2 to find α/2. This is because the t-distribution is symmetric and we are interested in the critical value for a two-tailed test. So, α/2 = 0.05/2 = 0.025.
Use a t-distribution table or a calculator to find the critical value t_{α/2} for df = 5 and α/2 = 0.025. This involves looking up the value in the t-table that corresponds to these parameters.
The critical value t_{α/2} is the value that you find in the t-distribution table for df = 5 and α/2 = 0.025. This value is used to construct the confidence interval.
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