When the variance is known adding variables transform

Z=

constructing CI

X1 + X2

1 + 2 ,

2 1

n1

2 2

n2

P ( 1.96 < Z < 1.96) = 0.95

X
When variance is unknown

2
2 2

= X 1.96 p

variance estimate

s =

1 n 1

(Xi

X)2

Replace all the quantities with their estimated equivalents. Note that when n < 30, use the student's t distribution.

s = X 1.96 p ) = X p n n

Adding variables, different variances

X1 + X2

s2 s2 1 + 2 , 1 + 2 n1 n2

Adding variables, unknown but same variance We know that the sigmas are the same, so we estimate them to be equal to the pooled estimator for variance

s2 p

(n1 + 1)s2 + (n2 + 2)s2 1 2 = n1 + n2 + 2

X1 + X2

1 +

2 , s2 p

1 1 + n1 n2