Assuming CLT applies for the sample data given by 54, 56, 59, 59, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 76, 84, 86, 89, 94, 101 Find a 90% CI to three decimals for the mean

What is the margin for error

1 answer

The margin of error (MOE) is calculated by multiplying the standard error (SE) by the critical value. The critical value is obtained from the z-table corresponding to the desired level of confidence.

To find the standard error, we first need to calculate the sample mean and the sample standard deviation.

Sample mean (x̄): (54 + 56 + 59 + 59 + 65 + 66 + 67 + 68 + 69 + 76 + 84 + 86 + 89 + 94 + 101) / 15 = 73.2

Sample standard deviation (s): √[(∑(x - x̄)²) / (n - 1)]
Plugging in the values: √[(54-73.2)² + (56-73.2)² + (59-73.2)² + (59-73.2)² + (65-73.2)² + (66-73.2)² + (67-73.2)² + (68-73.2)² + (69-73.2)² + (76-73.2)² + (84-73.2)² + (86-73.2)² + (89-73.2)² + (94-73.2)² + (101-73.2)²] / (15 - 1)
Calculating the values inside the square root: 551.6 / 14
Taking the square root: √39.4 ≈ 6.275

Now, the standard error (SE) is obtained by dividing the sample standard deviation by the square root of the sample size:

SE: 6.275 / √15 ≈ 1.617

The critical value corresponding to a 90% confidence level is found by subtracting (1 - 0.90) / 2 from 1 and looking up that value in the z-table. For a 90% confidence level, the critical value is approximately 1.645.

Finally, the margin of error (MOE) is calculated by multiplying the standard error by the critical value:

MOE: 1.617 * 1.645 ≈ 2.660

Therefore, the margin of error for the mean is approximately 2.660.