Suppose that in a sample of 50 college students in Illinois, the mean credit card debt was $346. Suppose that we also have reason to believe (from previous studies) that the population standard deviation of credit card debts for this group is $108. Use this information to calculate a 95% confidence interval for the mean credit card debt of all college students in Illinois.

Respuesta :

Answer:

A 95% confidence interval for the mean credit card debt of all college students in Illinois is [$316.06, $375.94] .

Step-by-step explanation:

We are given that in a sample of 50 college students in Illinois, the mean credit card debt was $346. Suppose that we also have reason to believe that the population standard deviation of credit card debts for this group is $108.

Firstly, the pivotal quantity for finding the confidence interval for the population mean is given by;

                               P.Q. =  [tex]\frac{\bar X-\mu}{\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n} } }[/tex]  ~ N(0,1)

where, [tex]\bar X[/tex] = sample mean credit card debt = $346

            [tex]\sigma[/tex] = population standard deviation = $108

            n = sample of college students = 50

            [tex]\mu[/tex] = population mean credit card debt

Here for constructing a 95% confidence interval we have used a One-sample z-test statistics because we know about population standard deviation.

So, a 95% confidence interval for the population mean, [tex]\mu[/tex] is;

P(-1.96 < N(0,1) < 1.96) = 0.95  {As the critical value of z at 2.5%

                                                 level of significance are -1.96 & 1.96}    P(-1.96 < [tex]\frac{\bar X-\mu}{\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n} } }[/tex] < 1.96) = 0.95

P( [tex]-1.96 \times {\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n} } }[/tex] < [tex]{\bar X-\mu}} }[/tex] < [tex]1.96 \times {\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n} } }[/tex] ) = 0.95

P( [tex]\bar X-1.96 \times {\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n} } }[/tex] < [tex]\mu[/tex] < [tex]\bar X+1.96 \times {\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n} } }[/tex] ) = 0.95

95% confidence interval for [tex]\mu[/tex] = [ [tex]\bar X-1.96 \times {\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n} } }[/tex] , [tex]\bar X+1.96 \times {\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n} } }[/tex] ]

                                       = [ [tex]\$346-1.96 \times {\frac{\$108}{\sqrt{50} } }[/tex] , [tex]\$346+1.96 \times {\frac{\$108}{\sqrt{50} } }[/tex] ]

                                       = [$316.06, $375.94]

Therefore, a 95% confidence interval for the mean credit card debt of all college students in Illinois is [$316.06, $375.94] .