Practice Exam

Chapter 8 - CONFIDENCE INTERVAL ESTIMATION

SECTION I: MULTIPLE-CHOICE

1. The width of a confidence interval estimate for a proportion will be

a) narrower for 99% confidence than for 95% confidence.

b) wider for a sample size of 100 than for a sample size of 50.

c) narrower for 90% confidence than for 95% confidence.

d) narrower when the sample proportion is 0.50 than when the sample
proportion is 0.20.

2. A 99% confidence interval estimate can be interpreted to mean that

a) if all possible samples are taken and confidence interval estimates are
developed, 99% of them would include the true population mean
somewhere within their interval.

b) we have 99% confidence that we have selected a sample whose

interval does include the population mean.

c) Both of the above.

d) None of the above.

3. Which of the following is not true about the Student’s t distribution?

a) It has more area in the tails and less in the center than does the normal

distribution.

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b) It is used to construct confidence intervals for the population
mean when the population standard deviation is known.

c) It is bell shaped and symmetrical.

d) As the number of degrees of freedom increases, the t distribution

approaches the normal distribution.

4. It is desired to estimate the average total compensation of CEOs in the

Service industry. Data were randomly collected from 18 CEOs and the
97% confidence interval was calculated to be ($2,181,260, $5,836,180).
Which of the following interpretations is correct?

a) 97% of the sampled total compensation values fell between$2,181,260

and $5,836,180.

b) We are 97% confident that the mean of the sampled CEOs falls in the
interval $2,181,260 to $5,836,180.

c) In the population of Service industry CEOs, 97% of them will have

total compensations that fall in the interval $2,181,260 to $5,836,180.

d) We are 97% confident that the average total compensation of all

CEOs in the Service industry falls in the interval $2,181,260 to
$5,836,180.

5. A confidence interval was used to estimate the proportion of statistics

students that are females. A random sample of 72 statistics students
generated the following 90% confidence interval: (0.438, 0.642). Based
on the interval above, is the population proportion of females equal to
0.60?

a) No, and we are 90% sure of it.

b) No. The proportion is 54.17%.

c) Maybe. 0.60 is a believable value of the population proportion

based on the information above.

d) Yes, and we are 90% sure of it.

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6. A confidence interval was used to estimate the proportion of statistics
students that are female. A random sample of 72 statistics students
generated the following 90% confidence interval: (0.438, 0.642). Using
the information above, what total size sample would be necessary if we
wanted to estimate the true proportion to within ±0.08 using 95%
confidence?

Z 2 π (1  π )
n
e2

a) 105

b) 150

c) 420

d) 597

7. When determining the sample size necessary for estimating the true
population mean, which factor is not considered when sampling with
replacement?

a) The population size.

b) The population standard deviation.

c) The level of confidence desired in the estimate.

d) The allowable or tolerable sampling error.

8. Suppose a 95% confidence interval for µ turns out to be (1,000,

2,100). To make more useful inferences from the data, it is desired to
reduce the width of the confidence interval. Which of the following will
result in a reduced interval width?
σ
L  2 * Z / 2
n

a) Increase the sample size.

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b) Increase the confidence level.

c) Increase the population mean.

d) Increase the sample mean.

9. A major department store chain is interested in estimating the average

amount its credit card customers spent on their first visit to the chain’s
new store in the mall. Fifteen credit card accounts were randomly
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sampled and analyzed with the following results: X =$50.50 and S =
= 400 . Construct a 95% confidence interval for the average amount its
credit card customers spent on their first visit to the chain’s new store in
the mall assuming that the amount spent follows a normal distribution.

a) $50.50 ± $9.09

b) $50.50 ± $10.12

c) $50.50 ± $11.00

d) $50.50 ± $11.08

10. Private colleges and universities rely on money contributed by

individuals and corporations for their operating expenses. Much of this
money is put into a fund called an endowment, and the college spends
only the interest earned by the fund. A recent survey of 8 private colleges
in the United States revealed the following endowments ‫(هبات‬in millions
of dollars): 60.2, 47.0, 235.1, 490.0, 122.6, 177.5, 95.4, and 220.0.
Summary statistics yield X = 180.975 and s =143.042 . Calculate a
95%confidence interval for the mean endowment of all the private
colleges in the United States assuming a normal distribution for the
endowments.
S
X  t / 2
n

a) $180.975± $94.066

b) $180.975± $99.123

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c) $180.975± $116.621

d) $180.975± $119.586

11. A university dean is interested in determining the proportion of

students who receive some sort of financial aid ‫مساعدات مالية‬. Rather than
examine the records for all students, the dean randomly selects 200
students and finds that 118 of them are receiving financial aid. If the dean
wanted to estimate the proportion of all students receiving financial aid to
within 3% with 99% reliability, how many students would need to be
sampled?

Z 2 p (1  p)
n
e2

a) n = 1,844

b) n = 1,784

c) n = 1,503

d) n = 1,435

12. An economist is interested in studying the incomes of consumers

‫ دخل المستهلكين في منطقة معينة‬in a particular region. The population
standard deviation is known to be $1,000. A random sample of 50
individuals resulted in an average income of $15,000. What is the width
of the 90% confidence interval?
σ
L  2 * Z / 2
n

a) $232.60

b) $364.30

c) $465.23

d) $728.60

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13. The head librarian at the Library of Congress has asked her assistant
for an interval estimate of the mean number of books checked out each
day. The assistant provides the following interval estimate: from 740 to
920 books per day. If the head librarian knows that the population
standard deviation is 150 books checked out per day, approximately how
large a sample did her assistant use to determine the interval estimate?

a) 2

b) 3

c) 12

d) It cannot be determined from the information given.

14. The head librarian at the Library of Congress has asked her assistant
for an interval estimate of the mean number of books checked out each
day. The assistant provides the following interval estimate: from 740 to
920 books per day. If the head librarian knows that the population
standard deviation is 150 books checked out per day, and she asked her
assistant to use 25 days of data to construct the interval estimate, what
confidence level can she attach to the interval estimate?
σ 150
e  Z / 2 , 90  Z , Z  3 C.I  99.87
n 25

a) 99.7%

b) 99.0%

c) 98.0%

d) 95.4%

SECTION II: TRUE OR FALSE

1. A race car driver tested his car for time from 0 to 60 mph, and in 20
tests obtained an average of 4.85 seconds with a standard deviation of

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1.47 seconds. A 95% confidence interval for the 0 to 60 time is 4.52
seconds to 5.18 seconds.

False

2. Given a sample mean of 2.1 and a population standard deviation of 0.7

from a sample of 10 data points, a 90% confidence interval will have a
width of 2.36.

False

3. A random sample of 50 provides a sample mean of 31 with a standard

deviation of s=14. The upper bound of a 90% confidence interval
estimate of the population mean is 34.32.

True

4. Other things being equal, as the confidence level for a confidence

interval increases, the width of the interval increases.

True

5. For a t distribution with 12 degrees of freedom, the area between –

2.6810 and 2.1788 is 0.980.

False

6. A sample of 100 fuses from a very large shipment is found to have 10

that are defective. The 95% confidence interval would indicate that, for
this shipment, the proportion of defective fuses is between 0 and 0.28.

False

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7. A point estimate consists of a single sample statistic that is used to
estimate the true population parameter.

True

8. The t distribution is used to develop a confidence interval estimate of

the population mean when the population standard deviation is unknown.

True

9. The standardized normal distribution is used to develop a confidence

interval estimate of the population proportion when the sample size is
sufficiently large.

True

10. The width of a confidence interval equals twice the sampling error.

True

11. A population parameter is used to estimate a confidence interval.

False

12. Holding the sample size fixed, increasing the level of confidence in a
confidence interval will necessarily lead to a wider confidence interval.

True

13. Holding the width of a confidence interval fixed, increasing the level
of confidence can be achieved with a lower sample size.

False

SECTION III: FREE RESPONSE QUESTIONS

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TABLE (A)

A quality control engineer is interested in the mean length of sheet

insulation being cut automatically by machine. The desired length of the
insulation is 12 feet. It is known that the standard deviation in the cutting
length is 0.15 feet. A sample of 70 cut sheets yields a mean length of
12.14 feet. This sample will be used to obtain a 99% confidence interval
for the mean length cut by machine.

1. the critical value to use in obtaining the confidence interval is

________. 2.58

2. the confidence interval goes from _____ to ____. 12.09 to 12.19

3. the confidence interval indicates that the machine is not working

properly.

True

4. the confidence interval is valid only if the lengths cut are normally
distributed.

False

5. suppose the engineer had decided to estimate the mean length to

within 0.03 with 99% confidence. Then the sample size would be
________. 1.664.41 rounds up to 167

TABLE (B)

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The actual voltages of power packs labeled as 12 volts are as follows:
11.77, 11.90, 11.64, 11.84, 12.13, 11.99, and 11.77.

1. a confidence interval for this sample would be based on the t

distribution with __________ degrees of freedom. 6

2. the critical value for a 99% confidence interval for this sample is
__________. 3.7074

3. a 99% confidence interval for the mean voltage of the power packs is
from __________ to __________. 11.6367 to 12.0891

4. a 95% confidence interval for the mean voltage of the power pack is
wider than a 99% confidence interval.

False

5. a 99% confidence interval will contain 99% of the voltages for all
such power packs.

False

6. a confidence interval estimate of the population mean would only be

valid if the distribution of voltages is normal.

True

7. a 90% confidence interval calculated from the same data would be

narrower than a 99% confidence interval.

True

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8. it is possible that the 99% confidence interval calculated from the data
will not contain the mean voltage for the sample.

False

9. it is possible that the 99% confidence interval calculated from the data
will not contain the mean voltage for the entire population.

True

TABLE (C)

A hotel chain wants to estimate the average number of rooms rented daily
in each month. The population of rooms rented daily is assumed to be
normally distributed for each month with a standard deviation of 24
rooms.

1. during January, a sample of 16 days has a sample mean of 48 rooms.

This information is used to calculate an interval estimate for the
population mean to be from 40 to 56 rooms. What is the level of
confidence of this interval?

81.76%

2. during February, a sample of 25 days has a sample mean of 37 rooms.

Use this information to calculate a 92% confidence interval for the
population mean.

28.60 to 45.40

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3. The county clerk wants to estimate the proportion of retired voters
who will need special election facilities. The clerk wants to find a 95%
confidence interval for the population proportion which extends at most
0.07 to either side of the sample proportion. How large a sample must be
taken to assure these conditions are met?

Z/2 π (1  π ) (1.96) 2 (0.5)(1  0.5)

2

n   196
e2 (0.07) 2

196

4. The county clerk wants to estimate the proportion of retired

voters ‫ الناخبين المتقاعدين‬who will need special election facilities , ‫وسائل‬
‫انتخابات خاصة‬. Suppose a sample of 400 retired voters was taken. If 150
need special election facilities, calculate an 80% confidence interval for
the population proportion. 0.344 to 0.406

p(1  p)
p  Z/2
n

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