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 eight private colleges in the United States revealed the following endowments (in millions of dollars): 74.8, 53.3, 242.2, 499.2, 124.7, 151.2, 92.7, and 211.4. What value will be used as the point estimate for the mean endowment of all private colleges in the United States?

Question

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 eight private colleges in the United States revealed the following endowments (in millions of dollars): 74.8, 53.3, 242.2, 499.2, 124.7, 151.2, 92.7, and 211.4. What value will be used as the point estimate for the mean endowment of all private colleges in the United States?
Answer

Amber · Accepted Answer

Private college 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 eight private colleges in the United States revealed the following endowment (in millions of dollars): 60.2, 47.0, 235.1, 490.0, 122.6, 177.5, 95.4, and 220.0. Summary statistics yield a mean of 180.975 and standard deviation of 143.042. Calculate a 95% confidence interval for the mean endowment of all private colleges in the United States.

PsyDAG · Answer

To find the mean, add up the values and divide by the number of values.